Indian benchmark shares fall as Mideast cues keep investors on edge
By Kashish Tandon
March 11 (Reuters) - Indian benchmark shares fell on Wednesday, after a rebound in the previous session, as the Middle East war kept investors unsure about the impact on inflation and growth, with oil prices also seesawing.
The Nifty 50 .NSEI fell 0.7% to 24,087 and the BSE Sensex .BSESN declined 0.8% to 77,556.77 as of 10:40 a.m. IST. The indexes were flat in early trade.
"There is still considerable geopolitical uncertainty and that is why markets are basically on edge," said Devarsh Vakil, head of Prime Research at HDFC Securities.
The United States and Israel launched what some described as the war's heaviest strikes on Iran, even as U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that the conflict could be "over soon."
Meanwhile, oil prices had a short-lived pullback after the Wall Street Journal reported that the International Energy Agency has proposed a record release of oil reserves to curb crude prices, offering some relief to bruised global stocks.
The pullback helped the Nifty 50 and the Sensex rebound on Tuesday after logging their biggest decline in a month in Monday's session and ending near one-year lows.
The benchmarks have lost about 5% each since the start of the Iran war.
Eight of the 16 major sectors declined on Wednesday, with heavyweights HDFC Bank HDBK.NS and ICICI Bank ICBK.NS dropping 1.4% each and Reliance Industries RELI.NS losing 0.48%.
The smallcaps .NIFSMCP100 rose 0.5% while the midcaps .NIFMDCP100 were flat.
"The news that International Energy Agency may release emergency stockpile will keep crude at a lower level and will enthuse market participants," Vakil said.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 swung between gains and losses to trade 1.4% lower at $86.64 per barrel.
Among individual stocks, budget carrier IndiGo INGL.NS gained as much as 3% after its CEO Pieter Elbers resigned.
Solar equipment maker Waaree Energies WAAN.NS climbed up to 2.4% on a deal to acquire shares worth $30 million in United Solar Holdings.
