India’s BSE Sensex fell about 0.6% to 75,714 on Tuesday, extending the previous session’s losses and marking its lowest level since June 12. Sentiment was pressured by rising crude prices and escalating tensions in the Middle East. Iran cautioned that any further attacks on Tehran could trigger retaliation against US assets and threaten Gulf energy infrastructure, including US oil and gas interests.
Oil remained a central concern for Indian equities, with Brent crude hovering near $97 a barrel as the prospect of a prolonged regional conflict fueled worries over global supply. Investors were also closely tracking domestic liquidity conditions after the Reserve Bank of India withdrew more than 6 trillion rupees of excess liquidity from the banking system on Monday.
Despite the caution in secondary markets, activity in India’s equity capital markets stayed robust, with six IPOs scheduled to launch on the same day this week in what could be a record-setting wave of new issues. Among notable laggards in the session were IFCI (-7.0%), PC Jeweller (-2.9%), Jindal (-2.7%), and Vodafone (-1.0%).
