Bears lay siege to D-Street; Nifty snaps below 23,000 on crude shock and Iran standoff
Nifty 50 closed at 22,780.25, down 360 points or 1.56% and Sensex settled at 72,771.72, shedding 1,124 points or 1.52%
Bears descended upon the D-Street on Monday as geopolitical tensions in West Asia surged, with Brent crude surpassing $108 a barrel, prompting investors to rush to sell. The Nifty 50 plummeted 1.56 per cent, closing at 22,780.25, marking its steepest intraday decline since July 8, 2026, and the seventh consecutive weekly loss. The Sensex also experienced a significant drop, closing at 72,771.72, down 1.52 per cent.
No sectoral index managed to close positively, with Nifty PSU Bank taking the hardest hit, falling 3.24 per cent. The broader market suffered heavily, with 432 out of 500 stocks in the Nifty 500 ending in the red. Macroeconomic conditions were not favorable, as US 10-year Treasury yields rose to 5.23 per cent, the highest since 2007, tightening global financial conditions and impacting emerging-market assets.
The Indian government bond yield also increased to 7.12 per cent, its highest since May 2026. The rupee weakened against the dollar, losing 0.19 per cent to 96.00 per dollar, due to persistent foreign institutional selling, which has been net selling after a brief respite in July–August. Despite the overall negative sentiment, gold and silver both declined, with spot gold falling over 3 per cent to around $4,140 per ounce and silver dropping about 5 per cent to under $61.
This was driven by surging crude prices, which raised concerns about inflation and reinforced expectations of further Federal Reserve tightening. The dollar index exceeded 101, indicating a strengthening dollar. The upcoming week will be closely monitored for two key US data releases: the Core PCE Price Index on Wednesday and the official jobs report on Friday.
Positive data could solidify expectations for an October Federal Reserve rate hike, potentially exacerbating the current risk-off mood. Domestically, any further escalation in the Iran-US standoff, Houthi threats to Saudi infrastructure, or a sustained Brent price above $110 could maintain the risk-off sentiment. Markets may also face heightened volatility around the monthly derivatives expiry on Tuesday, with the India VIX already surging 12.15 per cent to 13.64.
Written by urgent.news from Hindu BusinessLine's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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