India’s BSE Sensex tumbled 3.3% on Thursday to close at 74,207, marking its worst session since mid-2024 and snapping a three-day winning streak. The steep decline followed a sharp escalation in the Middle East conflict that drove oil prices higher and stoked fears of a prolonged energy crisis.
Iran intensified its attacks on Gulf Arab energy infrastructure, hitting a Saudi refinery on the Red Sea and setting Qatari LNG facilities and two Kuwaiti oil refineries ablaze in retaliation for an Israeli strike on its main natural gas field.
Sentiment was further pressured by the US Federal Reserve’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged, as widely expected, while signaling that borrowing costs may stay elevated for an extended period. This reinforced ongoing equity outflows.
Losses were broad-based across all sectors, led by financials and banks, with autos, technology, and travel and tourism stocks also under heavy selling pressure. Among individual names, HDFC Bank slid 5.1% after its chairman, Atanu Chakraborty, resigned, citing ethical concerns.
