India’s Sensex, Nifty fall 1% on Middle East tensions

NEW DELHI, April 22. /TASS/. India’s key indices — the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty 50 — declined by nearly 1% each in morning trading on Wednesday amid a weakening Indian rupee, elevated crude oil prices, and other factors against the backdrop of ongoing tensions in the Middle East. The Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex index dropped by more than 800 points, trading below 78,500. The National Stock Exchange of India’s Nifty index fell below the 24,400-mark. Leading Indian IT companies recorded the largest financial losses from the decline in share prices. The Nifty IT index decreased by 4%, while the indices of Tech Mahindra, Infosys, and TCS fell by 2.5%. The Indian rupee weakened to 93.68 against the US dollar following gains recorded last week. The Economic Times noted that the decline in stock market indices was driven by investor concerns that US-Iran negotiations may fail to produce a long-term peace agreement between the two countries. The United States and Israel launched a large-scale operation against Iran on February 28. On April 7, US President Donald Trump announced a two-week mutual ceasefire with the Islamic republic. On April 11, Iran and the United States held several rounds of talks in Islamabad. As later reported in Tehran and Washington, the parties failed to reach an agreement on a long-term settlement of the conflict due to a number of disagreements. On April 21, the US president announced plans to extend the ceasefire regime with Iran.