Middle East war impact: Indian markets log worst week in over a year; check top losers

Stock market today news: Sensex, Nifty see profit booking in trade. 

• Sensex and Nifty fell over 1 percent as crude prices surged.
• 15 of 16 major sectors declined; defence stocks gained 6 percent.
• State-owned banks fell 6.5% due to borrowing cost worries.

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The benchmark equity indices declined more than 1 percent on Friday after a day’s breather as the conflict in West Asia entered its seventh day, pushing crude oil prices higher and weighing on investor sentiment.

Weakness in US equities, a subdued trend in European markets and continued foreign fund outflows also dragged the markets lower.

The Sensex tumbled 1,097 points, or 1.37 percent, to settle at 78,918.90. During the day, it dropped 1,203.72 points, or 1.5 percent, to 78,812.18. The broader Nifty fell 315.45 points, or 1.27 percent, to close at 24,450.45.

For the week, both the Sensex and the Nifty lost about 2.9 percent each. The fall marked the steepest weekly decline for the Nifty since February 28, 2025, and for the Sensex since December 20, 2024.

"The market is taking into account the near-term threat from oil prices," said Pankaj Pandey, Head of Retail Research at ICICI Securities.

"However, we don't yet see a macroeconomic impact from this as the broad expectation is that crude prices will not remain elevated for a long period," he said. The rupee ended marginally lower on Friday and posted its worst weekly fall in more than a month.

Sectorally, 15 of the 16 major sectors declined during the week. Small-cap and mid-cap indices fell 2.5 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively.

Shares of state-owned banks dropped about 6.5 percent amid concerns that higher crude prices could increase government borrowing costs, push bond yields higher and compress treasury gains.

Financial and banking stocks declined around 4.5 percent each.

Among individual stocks, shares of Larsen & Toubro slipped 2.2 percent on Friday and fell 7.7 percent for the week, their worst performance since May 2020, as investors factored in the company’s exposure to the West Asia.

Shares of InterGlobe Aviation dropped 2.4 percent on Friday and 8.8 percent during the week, the worst in three months, amid concerns that higher fuel costs and moderation in international air traffic could impact quarterly earnings.

West Asia war impact: IndiGo shares decline 3% as multiple brokerages flag pressure on airline's earnings

Among the top losers on the Nifty during the week were Tata Motors Passenger Vehicle, which declined 9.6 percent, Larsen & Toubro which fell 11.7 percent, HDFC Life Insurance down 6.61 percent and Tata Steel which dropped 8.28 percent.

Among mid-cap stocks, L&T Finance declined 12.58 percent, Petronet LNG fell 15.63 percent, Macrotech Developers dropped 10.82 percent, Indian Oil Corporation lost 11.31 percent, KPIT Technologies slipped 9.6 percent and Rail Vikas Nigam fell 12.14 percent.

Defence stocks outperformed the broader market and gained nearly 6 percent during the week, with Paras Defence and Space Technologies and Solar Industries India emerging as the top gainers.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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