MUMBAI — Indian benchmark equity indices opened on a weak note on Tuesday morning, extending their decline into a sixth consecutive session. Investor sentiment remained under pressure amid rising geopolitical tensions in West Asia, soaring global crude oil prices, and rising U.S. treasury yields.

In early trading, the 30-share BSE Sensex dropped by 278.32 points to touch 77,450.64. Similarly, the broader 50-share NSE Nifty declined by 57.65 points to 24,230.45.

Key Drivers Behind the Market Drag

The primary catalyst for the morning slump was the sharp surge in international oil prices. Brent crude, the global benchmark, advanced by 0.63% to reach $91.46 per barrel. The rally comes as escalation between Iran and the United States sparked concerns over supply disruptions along critical trade routes.

Adding to the headwind, the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield surged to 4.73%. High U.S. bond yields typically disincentivize foreign institutional investors (FIIs) from placing capital in emerging market equities, threatening the recent net inflows observed over July and August. Provisional data from stock exchanges revealed that FIIs offloaded equities worth ₹2,535.10 crore on Monday alone.

Sectoral and Stock Movers

  • Top Loss-makers: Major laggards in the Sensex pack included technology and consumer-facing heavyweights such as Infosys, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, Asian Paints, Bharti Airtel, and InterGlobe Aviation.

  • Top Gainers: Offering some resistance against the broader decline, stocks like Reliance Industries, Sun Pharma, Maruti Suzuki, and Axis Bank managed to trade in positive territory.

Global and Regional Cues

The weakness in Domestic equities mirrored a cautious trend across global markets. Asian indices traded uniformly lower on Tuesday morning, with South Korea’s Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei 225, Shanghai’s SSE Composite, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng all reflecting investor risk-aversion following overnight losses on Wall Street.

Expert Take

"Two developments during the last several hours are likely to impact the market today," noted V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments Ltd. "One, Brent crude has again spiked above USD 91 on escalation of tensions between Iran and the US. Two, the US 10-year bond yield has increased to 4.73 per cent, which poses a risk to foreign inflows. However, the domestic market continues to draw long-term structural support from India’s resilient macroeconomic fundamentals and clear signs of a turnaround in corporate earnings growth."

Market watchers expect benchmark indices to trade within a volatile range throughout the day, with movement heavily tied to geopolitical developments and crude price movements.