Sensex Falls to Near 6-Month Lows

India's BSE Sensex closed about 1.3% down at 80,238.85 on Monday, the lowest since September 2025 and extending losses for the third session. Market sentiment was hit hard following a sharp spike in crude oil prices amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, triggered by renewed US and Israeli strikes on Iran over the weekend and Tehran’s retaliation. This also fueled foreign outflows as uncertainty over future economic conditions grew. A broad selloff was seen across sectors, with shares of aviation companies such as IndiGo (-4.3%) declining the most. Larsen & Toubro, Eternal, Adani Ports, Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement, Reliance Industries and Trent were also among the worst performers, losing between 1.6% and 3.6%. Conversely, some defense stocks including Bharat Electronics (1.2%) showed resilience.

The SENSEX Index dropped -1048 points or 1.29 percent on Monday to close at 80239 points. Losses were led by Larsen & Toubro (-5.24%), Adani Ports (-3.43%) and Maruti Suzuki (-3.29%).

India’s BSE Sensex fell around 1.2% down at 80,319 on Monday, extending losses for a third straight session and touching its lowest level since September 30 of last year, as escalating tensions in the Middle East and a sharp rise in oil prices weighed on investor sentiment. All sectoral indices opened in negative territory, reflecting broad-based selling pressure, except for communications and electronic technology stocks, which recorded modest early gains. On the macro front, Friday’s Q4 GDP data showed growth eased to 7.8% from a six-quarter high of 8.4% in the previous period, yet still surpassed market expectations of 7.2% and remained the strongest among G20 economies, while investors now await HSBC’s manufacturing PMI, to be released later today, and the services and composite PMIs, scheduled for later this week. Among the individual stocks dragging the index lower were Larsen & Toubro (-5.3%), InterGlobe Aviation (-3.9%), Reliance Industries (-2%), and Axis Bank (-1.4%).