India-Pak Standoff: Escalating Tensions Cast Shadow Over Dalal St

Mumbai: Benchmark Sensex declined by nearly 412 points in a volatile session on Thursday due to selling in banking, FMCG and auto shares triggered by escalating tensions between India and Pakistan.

The 30-share Sensex declined by 411.97 points or 0.51 per cent to close at 80,334.81 with 23 of its constituents ending in the red. The index opened higher and traded in a range in the first half of the session. The index hit a high of 80,927.99 in late-morning deals. However, the barometer lost momentum in the afternoon session as selling emerged in FMCG, auto, and select banking shares. It tanked 759.17 points or 0.94 per cent to hit a low of 79,987.61 in the pre-close session. The NSE Nifty closed lower by 140.60 points or 0.58 per cent to 24,273.80. Intra-day, it fell 264.2 points or 1 per cent to 24,150.20.

“The Indian equity market experienced a profit-booking by the end of the trading day due to escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, marked by increased cross-border exchanges. The FOMC policy meeting provided little reassurance, as the FED expressed concerns that aggressive US tariffs could fuel inflation and raise unemployment,” said Vinod Nair, head (research), Geojit Investments Ltd.

“Amid escalating tensions with Pakistan, Indian equity markets ended lower on Thursday, with benchmarks slipping into the red after a volatile session,” added Vikram Kasath head (advisory), PL Capital. As many as 2,548 stocks declined while 1,349 advanced and 135 remained unchanged on the BSE.

“Ongoing uncertainty continues to make traders cautious, potentially clouding the prevailing trend amid lingering geopolitical tensions,” said Ajit Mishra, Sr V-P (research), Religare Broking Ltd.

Among sectoral indices, realty tanked 2.60 per cent, oil & gas (1.98 per cent), auto (1.92 per cent), power (1.86 per cent), utilities (1.85 per cent), commodities (1.67 per cent), consumer discretionary (1.58 per cent) and services (1.57 per cent). IT and BSE Focused IT were the only gainers.

Indian Armed forces foiled attempts by the Pakistani military to engage a number of military targets in Northern and Western India using drones and missiles last night and destroyed a Pakistani air defence system in Lahore, officials said on Thursday.

The Pakistani military attempted to target Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Nal, Phalodi, Uttarlai, and Bhuj, they said. These were neutralised by the Integrated Counter Unmanned Aircraft System (Grid and Air Defence systems), the defence ministry said.

“Today morning Indian armed forces targeted air defence radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan. Indian response has been in the same domain with the same intensity as Pakistan. It has been reliably learnt that an air defence system at Lahore has been neutralised,” the ministry said.