Stock market slide continues amid West Asia tensions

The Indian stock market on Thursday continued to slide amid concerns surrounding the conflict in West Asia.

The benchmark Sensex index fell more than 800 points, or 1%. The Nifty fell by 0.9% to close the session at 23,639 points.

Stock markets had begun to slide on March 2 after the conflict began.

The India VIX index, which measures volatility in the market, spiked more than 2% on Thursday.

Major Asian stock indices also fell on Thursday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index closed 0.7% lower, while Japan’s Nikkei fell 1% and South Korea’s Kospi 0.4%.

Rupee slides

The Indian rupee continued to fall on Thursday, declining by 0.3% to 92.35 against the United States dollar, Reuters reported. This breached the currency’s previous record low of 92.34 hit earlier this week, the news agency reported.

The currency’s value improved marginally to end the Thursday session at 92.18.

On Wednesday, the rupee had closed at 92.04 against the US dollar.

The benchmark Brent crude oil prices briefly touched the $100 per barrel-mark on Thursday as Iran stepped up attacks on oil and transport facilities in West Asia, Reuters reported.

The price had improved marginally to $96.4 per barrel as of 3.45 pm Indian time.

Global oil prices have surged since Israel and the United States launched their attacks on Iran on February 28. Tehran has retaliated by striking Israel and US military bases in the region, and targeting major cities in Gulf countries and some ships.

The price of Brent was about $72.8 per barrel on February 27, a day before the conflict started.

The escalating tensions have raised fears of disruption to shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

The narrow waterbody connects the Gulf to the Arabian Sea. About 20% of the global petroleum supply passes through the maritime chokepoint.

On Monday as well, oil prices had briefly crossed the $100-per-barrel mark, the highest since July 2022.