Sensex, Nifty Edge Lower Amid Geopolitical Tensions In Middle East

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty edged lower in trade on Wednesday as a retaliatory attack on US-led forces by Iran spurred another crude rally, stoking fears of rising inflation at one of the world's top oil importers. Other Asian shares and U.S. Treasury yields also tumbled while gold shot higher after Iran fired missiles at Iraqi facilities hosting US-led coalition personnel, in retaliation for the US strike killing an Iranian commander last week. The Sensex fell as much as 393 points but trimmed losses in afternoon trading after US President Donald Trump tweeted, "All is well! Missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq. Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now."

The Sensex ended 52 points or 0.13 per cent lower at 40,818 and the Nifty 50 index declined 28 points to close at 12,025.

Nine of 11 sector gauges compiled by NSE ended lower led by the Nifty Auto index's 0.75 per cent fall.

Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Pharma, Nifty Metal and Nifty Media indexes also fell between 0.5-0.7 per cent each.

On the other hand, Nifty IT index was top gainer, up 0.4 per cent.

Mid- and small-cap shares ended mixed as the Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.3 per cent while the Nifty Smallcap 100 index fell 0.3 per cent.

Eicher Motors was top gainer in the Nifty 50 basket of shares, the stock fell 4.3 per cent to Rs 19,900. Coal India, Larsen & Toubro, Indian Oil, ONGC, Sun Pharma, Titan and Hero MotoCorp were also among the losers.

On the flipside, Bharti Airtel, Yes Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finance, UPL and Nestle India were among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was negative as 1,444 shares ended lower while 1,013 closed higher on the BSE.