Equities Hit Multi-Month Lows; Rupee All Time Low on West Asia Conflict

An end-of-day recap of all that transpired in the Indian markets, highlighting the major price movements and the factors driving them

India Stocks fall

By Dehuti Jani

March 4, 2026 at 11:43 AM IST

Indian equity benchmarks extended their decline for a third consecutive session on Wednesday, with the Sensex falling to an 11-month low and the Nifty50 touching a six-month closing low, as escalating clashes between the US, Israel and Iran pushed oil prices to a 19-month high and rattled financial markets globally. The Nifty 50 fell 1.60% or 385.20 points to 24,480.50, while the BSE Sensex shed 1.40% or 1,122.66 points to 79,116.19, taking losses across the three-session rout to approximately 4% for both indices. India VIX surged to 21.14, its highest level since 9 May 2025, signalling a dramatic spike in investor anxiety. The rupee simultaneously hit a lifetime low against the dollar and government bond yields climbed, as disruptions to West Asia energy shipments stoked fears of a prolonged conflict with severe consequences for India, which imports 80% of its crude oil needs and relies on the region for a significant share of remittances and export revenues.

Fifteen of the 16 major sectors closed in the red on Wednesday, with Nifty Metal declining the most, followed by Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Realty, as broad-based selling gripped the market. Nifty IT was the sole sectoral index to end in positive territory, offering a rare pocket of resilience in an otherwise deeply risk-off session. Broader markets underperformed the benchmarks, with the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty SmallCap 100 falling 2.2% and 2.1% respectively. A sustained rise in crude oil prices risks pushing up inflation and hurting growth across the economy, with analysts warning that heightened risk aversion could also accelerate foreign investor outflows from both Indian equities and bonds.

Top Movers of the Day

BPCL fell as much as 4.5% to ₹357.60, while Indian Oil Corp and HPCL declined 4.3% and 5%, respectively, as surging crude prices amid West Asia tensions weighed on OMCs.

InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo) fell 5% to an over 11-month low of ₹4,293 on the BSE.

Mahanagar Gas plunged 9% to ₹1,100.80, hovering near its 52-week low. Indraprastha Gas dropped 6% to a 52-week low of ₹157.30.

Sugar stocks surged sharply on strong buying interest. Ugar Sugar Works jumped 16% to ₹41.80. Sakthi Sugars gained 13% to ₹17.60. Rajshree Sugars & Chemicals and K M Sugar Mills rose about 12%. Bajaj Hindustan Sugar and Shree Renuka Sugars climbed around 10%. Balrampur Chini Mills gained 9% to ₹500.20. Triveni Engineering & Industries added 5% to ₹416.75.

Realty counters such as Lodha Developers, DLF, Sobha, Prestige Estates Projects, and Oberoi Realty declined between 3% and 4%. JSW Infrastructure slipped around 2.7% to ₹244.50 in intraday trade.

Metal stocks decline with Tata Steel dropped 6.5% to ₹197.20, SAIL plunged 6% to ₹155.15, NMDC fell 5% to ₹77.25. Hindustan Copper, Jindal Steel, and Jindal Stainless declined between 4% and 4.5%.

IT counters held gains despite the broader sell-off. Infosys rose about 2%, while Persistent Systems, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, Coforge, and Mphasis traded higher. Wipro and OFSS were the only laggards in the IT pack.

Paras Defence and Space Technologies jumped over 10% after signing an MoU with South Korea’s Green Optics.

Futures & Options
Nifty March 2026 futures closed at 24,578, with a 97.50-point premium over the spot Nifty, which fell 385.20 points to 24,480.50. The shrinking premium signals weaker sentiment and less interest in leveraged longs amid heavy selling. India VIX jumped 23.40% to 21.14, it’s highest since May 2025, highlighting rising volatility due to escalating West Asia tensions. HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, and Infosys led activity in NSE's F&O stocks. March 2026 derivatives expire on 30 March 2026.

Bonds
Indian government bond yields rose to a nearly three-week high on Wednesday, with the 6.48% 2035 bond hitting 6.71267% intraday and closing at 6.7079%, up from 6.6753% on Monday. Climbing global crude prices amid West Asia tensions led investors to avoid risk, raising concerns about inflation and India's current account deficit, and complicating the domestic monetary policy outlook.

Forex
The Indian rupee fell 0.9% to a record low of 92.3025 per dollar on Wednesday, surpassing its previous low from January, amid increased geopolitical tensions in West Asia. Traders believe the RBI intervened to slow losses, but the rupee remains weak. The ongoing conflict threatens India’s economy due to its heavy reliance on oil imports and remittances from West Asia, with analysts warning it could drive up inflation, slow growth, worsen the current account deficit, and push foreign investors away from Indian markets.

Crypto
Crypto markets surged on Wednesday, with Bitcoin climbing above $71,000 for the first time since the West Asia conflict began, gaining over 6% in 24 hours to reach $71,023 during European trading hours. The rally was notable given the backdrop of escalating geopolitical tensions and disruptions to oil supplies through the Strait of Hormuz, with Bitcoin having held firm above the $65,000 support level throughout the conflict. Other major tokens followed Bitcoin's lead, with Ethereum, XRP and Solana each rising between 4% and 6%, pointing to a broad-based recovery in risk appetite across the digital asset space.

US Stock Futures
US stock futures edged into positive territory on Wednesday morning, staging a tentative rebound after a highly volatile previous session driven by escalating West Asia tensions. S&P 500 futures rose approximately 0.22% to around 6,836.50, Nasdaq 100 futures gained around 0.30% to approximately 24,746.75, and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added roughly 0.10% to trade near 48,456, as markets attempted to stabilise following recent sharp declines.

US Treasury Notes
US Treasury yields moved higher on Wednesday as markets reacted to the escalating West Asia conflict and its potential inflationary impact from surging energy prices. The benchmark 10-year note reclaimed the 4% level, rising 1.4 basis points to trade in the 4.069%–4.08% range, while the 2-year note climbed 1.6 basis points to 3.515% as investors weighed the prospect of persistently higher oil prices keeping inflation elevated and complicating the Federal Reserve's path to rate cuts.

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