The domestic equity benchmarks fell sharply in early afternoon trade today, as escalating tensions between Iran, Israel, and the US over the weekend pushed crude oil prices higher, raising concerns over India's rupee and macroeconomic stability. The Indian rupee hit a record low of 92.35 per US dollar, reflecting heightened pressure on emerging market currencies amid the surge in global oil prices, while investors turned cautious, tracking the impact of geopolitical risks and rising commodity costs on Indian markets.

The Nifty traded below the 23,900 level. Oil & Gas shares extended losses for the second consecutive trading session.

At 12:30 ST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex tanked 1,892.45 points or 2.40% to 77,026.45. The Nifty 50 index fell 587.65 points or 2.4% to 23,861.90.

The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index dropped 2.58% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index slipped 2.59%.

Sellers outnumbered buyers. On the BSE, 717 shares rose and 3,454 shares fell. A total of 190 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, surged 20.28% to 23.91. The Nifty 30 March 2026 futures were trading at 23,937.70, at a premium of 75.8 points as compared with the spot at 23,861.90.

The Nifty option chain for the 30 March 2026 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 42.3 lakh contracts at the 25,000 strike price. The maximum put OI of 47.1 lakh contracts was seen at the 23,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Oil & Gas index declined 3.10% to 11,422.25. The index fell 3.3% in the two consecutive trading sessions.

Gujarat State Petronet (down 7.16%), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (down 5.78%), GAIL (India) (down 5.37%), Petronet LNG (down 5.11%), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (down 5.09%), Indian Oil Corporation (down 4.75%), Gujarat Gas (down 4.74%), Oil India (down 3.86%), Oil & Natural Gas Corpn (down 3.37%) and Adani Total Gas (down 2.98%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Kwality Walls (India) declined 5.93% after the company's standalone net loss widened to Rs 178.38 crore in Q3 FY26 compared with net loss of Rs 100.16 crore in Q2 FY26. Revenue from operations fell 30.23% YoY to Rs 222.34 crore in Q3 FY26.

Meesho tumbled 9.99% after the company received an income tax demand notice amouting to Rs 1,500 crore from the Income Tax Department for the assessment year 2023-2024.

Oriana Power jumped 5.52% after the company secured an EPC contract worth Rs 1,180.53 crore from a renewable energy developer for a solar power project at the Maithon Dam Reservoir of Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) in Jharkhand.

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