Indian Shares Retreat as Middle East Tensions Weigh
Indian benchmark indices fell on Thursday as concerns over the Iran-U.S. ceasefire dampened sentiment. Financial stocks led the decline while oil prices rose.
Equity markets in India retreated on Thursday, as a fragile geopolitical environment in the Middle East dampened investor sentiment and reversed the sharp gains seen in the previous session. The benchmark Nifty 50 index fell 0.93% to close at 23,775.1, while the Sensex shed 1.2% to end at 76,631.65. This downturn followed a significant 4% jump for both indices on Wednesday.
Ten of the sixteen major sectoral indices ended in the red, with financial stocks leading the decline. The financial sub-index dropped 1.4% after a 5.5% surge in the prior session. Among individual stocks, HDFC BANK LIMITED fell 2.3%, and ICICI Bank declined by 2.1%. In contrast, mid-cap and small-cap stocks showed resilience, rising 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively.
