• Source:JND

Why Stock Market Is Down Today: The domestic equity indices opened sharply lower and dragged further to trade over a per cent lower in opening trade on Monday as the optimism around a potential deal between the US and Iran to end the war faded after US President Donald Trump rejected Iran's resolution letter.

BSE Sensex started the session at 76,638.09, falling nearly 700 points as compared to the last day's closing of 77,328.19. The 30-share index extended its losing streak, dropping over 900 points amid a spike in crude prices. At the time of writing, Sensex was trading at 76,394.18, down 934.01 or 1.21 per cent.

Similarly, NSE's Nifty50 opened sharply lower at 23,970.10 as compared to the previous session's closing of 24,176.15. Last seen, the index was trading at 23,937.85, down 238.30 points or 0.99 per cent.

Factors Behind Decline: PM Modi's Appeals And Tightening US-Iran Tension 

According to market watchers, the market will face pressure from two headwinds today.

"One, the expected resolution of the West Asia crisis has again slipped away following President Trump’s rejection of Iran’s letter. Consequently, Brent crude has again spiked to $105, potentially aggravating the current account deficit. Two, PM Modi’s appeal to the nation to curb the consumption of petrol/diesel, gold, chemical fertilisers and edible oil and refrain from avoidable foreign travel is a crisis management response to the current account deficit problem caused by high crude prices," said Dr VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited.

Top Losers And Gainers

In early trade, except for HCL Tech and NTPC, all other stocks from the Sensex basket were trading lower, with Titan, Indigo, SBI, Eternal, Bharti Airtel, Mahindra and Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Reliance, HDFC Bank, Bajaj FinServ, Axis Bank, Hindustan Unilever and L&T being the top losers.

Brent Crude Soars Over $105

As the US and Iran failed to reach a consensus yet again to end the war and blockade at the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for energy supply from Gulf countries, the oil prices soared in international markets.

In early trade, Brent Crude was trading at $105.8 per barrel, up $4.51 or 4.45 per cent. Meanwhile, WTI crude was at $100.02 per barrel, up $4.75 or 4.98 per cent.


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