Indian markets clawed back most of Friday’s sharp early losses to end only marginally lower, as a retreat in crude oil prices and fresh buying in HDFC Bank and IT heavyweights helped offset the morning’s sell‑off triggered by escalating tensions in West Asia.
The Sensex settled at 74,781.76, down 120.83 points or 0.16 per cent, after having tumbled as much as 742.43 points, or 0.99 per cent, to an intraday low of 74,160.16 earlier in the session.
The Nifty ended at 23,398.10, off 79.70 points or 0.34 per cent, having fallen 246.4 points, or 1.04 per cent, to a low of 23,231.40 during the day.
From steep fall to a modest slip
The day’s recovery came as Brent crude reversed course, declining 3.19 per cent to $104.2 dollars a barrel after having spiked past 108 dollars earlier in the session on fears of supply disruption from the intensifying US–Iran conflict.
That cooling in oil prices, alongside a positive opening in European markets, encouraged value buying in select sectors, particularly information technology, helping the benchmarks recover a large part of their intraday losses.
However, market breadth remained weak throughout the session, suggesting that the broader consolidation seen through the week has not fully abated despite the late recovery.
Sectorally, the session was mixed. HDFC Bank, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, Eternal and Infosys were among the notable gainers, reflecting the shift towards IT and select financials as crude eased.
On the other hand, Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finance, NTPC, Power Grid, Larsen & Toubro and Axis Bank were the major laggards, indicating that metals, energy, pharma and infrastructure names continued to bear the brunt of the day’s volatility even as headline indices pared losses.
Outflows persist, but domestic support cushions fall
Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers, offloading equities worth ₹438.24 crore on Thursday, extending a period of cautious foreign positioning amid the geopolitical and oil‑price uncertainty.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea’s Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei 225, Shanghai’s SSE Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng all ended lower, even as European markets traded higher during the day, offering some support to sentiment in the latter half of the Indian session.
US markets had closed in negative territory on Thursday, continuing to weigh on the broader risk environment.
Looking ahead, market watchers suggest that while elevated crude prices, sustained foreign outflows and ongoing geopolitical uncertainty could keep volatility high in the near term, resilient domestic fundamentals and strong institutional buying at lower levels are likely to limit further downside and support the medium‑term outlook for Indian equities.
Friday’s session, in effect, reversed much of the morning’s panic but still left both benchmarks in the red for a second straight day, underscoring how sensitive markets remain to swings in global crude prices and West Asia developments.
