Indian shares open lower as Mideast war lifts crude, keeps risk appetite weak
- The Nifty 50 was down 0.44% at 24,656.4 and the BSE Sensex shed 0.45% to 79,658.99
Indian shares opened lower on Friday, led by losses in heavyweight financial stocks, with risk appetite staying fragile amid the escalating US-Israeli war with Iran.
The conflict has stoked fears of a broader energy supply shock that could drive crude prices higher, revive inflation pressures, and cloud the global growth outlook.
The Nifty 50 was down 0.44% at 24,656.4 and the BSE Sensex shed 0.45% to 79,658.99 as of 9:15 a.m. IST.
Thirteen of the 16 major sectors logged losses at the open.
The broader small-caps and mid-caps fell 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively.
Heavyweight financials and banks lost 0.6% and 0.7%, dragged by the two heaviest stocks in Indian benchmarks - HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank - which fell 1.1% and 1.4%, respectively.
Asian shares inched lower, while Wall Street closed lower overnight and the US dollar firmed as hostilities involving the United States, Israel and Iran deepened.
Brent crude jumped about 5% to a 20-month high $86.28 a barrel on Thursday, and was trading at $84.4 as of 9:15 a.m. IST.