Indian stocks continued to remain subdued in Tuesday’s trade, August 18, as renewed tensions in the Middle East kept market sentiment cautious, while a lack of buying in heavyweight stocks and continued selling by overseas investors extended losses in the headline indices for the sixth straight session.
Both the Nifty 50 and Sensex closed 0.50% lower. The broader markets also mirrored the weakness, with both the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices ending in the red.
In terms of sectoral performance, tech continued led the losses for the second day in a row, declining another by 2%. It was followed by realty, PSU bank, FMCG, metals, and consumer durables, all of which fell by up to 1.5%.
On the gaining side, media, auto, and oil and gas ended higher, but posted modest gains.
The market sentiment was impacted by rising crude oil prices, with Brent futures topping $91 per barrel, as hopes of a near-term peace deal between the US and Iran were dashed after US President Donald Trump said he was not interested in extending the 60-day interim peace deal, which expired on Monday.
He also threatened to bomb Oman if the country gets in the way of the US blockade of Iranian ships in the Strait of Hormuz, igniting fresh tensions in the region.
“Indian markets remained under pressure amid continued geopolitical uncertainty, cautious global cues and weakness in the rupee. Persistent FII selling and profit booking kept sentiment subdued, while sector-specific selling, particularly in IT and other defensive segments, weighed on the benchmarks,” said domestic brokerage firm Lemonn Markets.
Overall, investors remained cautious, with institutional flows, global cues, currency movement and upcoming corporate developments likely to remain the key drivers for the near-term market direction, it added.
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