Key Highlights

• Sensex plunged 573 points, closing near 81,118; Nifty dipped below ₹24,800 amid global concerns.
• Adani Ports stock dropped about 3%, dragged down by broader selloff and geopolitical risk impact.

Benchmark stock market indices recovered from early losses to close half a percent lower on Friday, as negative sentiment gripped Dalal Street due to rising Middle East geopolitical tensions.

The S&P BSE Sensex declined by 573.38 points to end at 81,118.60 and the NSE Nifty50 decreased by 169.60 points to 24,718.60.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Investments Limited said that poor global leads and foreign institutional selling have driven equity benchmarks down.

He further said, that the escalation of geopolitical tensions after Israeli military strike against Iran also affected the market sentiment much, as it resulted in risk aversion of the investors.

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The major Sensex advancers included Tech Mahindra (1.02%), and then TCS (0.36%). Sun pharma was up 0.23 percent and Maruti Suzuki advanced 0.16 percent, showing a bit of strength in an otherwise poor market. There were just four stocks that ended up positively.

Adani ports was the biggest loser declining by 2.61 percent, and ITC came next with a loss of 1.67 percent. IndusInd Bank dropped 1.52%, HDFC Bank dropped 1.15% and Titan Company dropped 0.95% in the trading session.

In May, when the CPI of India fell below the comfort level of RBI, it gave a positive macro signal, but it was more or less obscured by the external winds. Brent crude oil price jumped to above $76 per barrel, the highest price this year, and there are fears of inflation should the tension continue. The demand in gold is quite high and this shows a rotation into safe-haven assets. Near term, the market mood will stay muted till geopolitical normalcy returns.