Renewed Mideast hostilities drag Indian shares to trim weekly gain

Indian shares fell on Friday as renewed U.S.-Iran attacks pushed oil prices higher and dashed hopes of a near-term resolution, trimming weekly gains built on earlier peace optimism and corporate earnings that have lacked any major negative surprises so far, despite higher crude prices in March.

The Nifty 50 fell 0.62% to 24,176.15, and the BSE Sensex shed 0.66% to 77,328.19.

Brent crude traded above $100 a barrel after briefly dropping below that mark in the previous session, after the U.S. and Iran exchanged fire in the Middle East, straining a month-long ceasefire.

However, the warring parties downplayed the situation, generating uncertainty over the prospects for peace in the region.

The session’s losses trimmed weekly gains in the Nifty and Sensex indexes to 0.7% and 0.5% respectively. Those gains have been underpinned by hopes of a potential U.S.-Iran peace deal and corporate earnings.

“Sentiment is completely hostage to the Iran war, and while peace looked possible earlier this week, fresh attacks have slammed the door on that optimism,” said Raghvendra Nath, managing director at Ladderup Asset Managers.

“Elevated crude prices will pile on macro-economic and earnings pressure going forward, even if a largely stable March quarter earnings season has so far cushioned the markets.”

Fourteen of the 16 major sectors logged weekly gains. The broader small-caps and mid-caps rose 4.1% and 3.6%, respectively, helped by steady earnings.

The auto index added 5.2%, led by upbeat quarterly results from Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp, which gained 4.4%-7.5%.

Coforge jumped 14.4%, posting its best week in five years after reporting a sharp uptick in March quarter earnings and forecasting an operating profit growth of 20.5% in fiscal year 2027.

State Bank of India dropped 6.4% on the day, swinging to a weekly loss of 4.6%, on missing its quarterly profit expectations as treasury income dragged.