All sectoral indices were in the negative terrain with Nifty PSU bank falling by 3.2%, metal by 2.2%, auto by 1.7% and FMCG by 0.8%
Mumbai: Equity indices suffered a blow during early hours on January 6 on the back of escalating geopolitical tension after a senior Iranian military official was killed by US airstrike.
At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 456 points to 41,009 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 136 points at 12,094.
All sectoral indices were in the negative terrain with Nifty PSU bank falling by 3.2%, metal by 2.2%, auto by 1.7% and FMCG by 0.8%.
Among stocks, State Bank of India was the top loser after sinking by 3.2% at Rs 322.80 per share. Metal majors JSW Steel and Hindalco slipped by 2.4% and 2.2 %t respectively while Coal India dipped by 2.7%.
Among the other prominent losers were Yes Bank, Power Grid Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Asian Paints, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors.
However, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and Titan showed thin gains.
Meanwhile, Asian shares fell from 18-month high owing to heightened Middle East tensions with both the United States and Iran exchanging threats.
The heightened tensions sent investors scurrying for the safety of gold, which hit a near seven-year high, while oil jumped to four-month peak.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan slipped by 0.7% while Japan's Nikkei slid by almost 2%. Chinese shares too opened in the red with the blue-chip CSI 300 index off a shade.
