India Sensex Dips With Asian Peers as Middle East Tensions Flare

(Bloomberg) — India’s benchmark stock index fell, set for a second week of decline, after a flare-up in Middle East tensions clipped the risk-on sentiment in Asian markets on Friday.

The S&P fell 0.3% to 41,511.76 at 9:40 a.m. in Mumbai, snapping a two-day winning streak. The NSE Nifty 50 Index dropped by a similar magnitude after closing at record-high on Thursday.

Most markets in Asia were in the red after a top Iranian commander was killed in a U.S. airstrike. Oil stocks rallied, with a sub-industry index jumping 1.2% on a spike in crude. India is one of the world’s largest importers.

Investors are also assessing the impact of Reserve Bank of India’s open market operations and fiscal spending in an economy that’s growing at its slowest pace since 2013. The Sensex had a positive January in six out of the last 10 years.

Strategist View

The flare-up in the Middle East is the “key reason for the drop in the market today”, and “there could be some profit booking after the rally we have seen so far,” said Chokkalingam G, founder of Equinomics Research & Advisory Pvt.

The Numbers

• Twelve of 19 sector sub-indexes compiled by BSE Ltd. fell, led by a gauge of metal companies
• HDFC Bank Ltd. was the biggest drag on the index while Asian Paints Ltd. had the largest drop, declining 1.7%
• Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. contributed the most to the index advance, while Oil and Corp. had the largest gain, rising 3.2%

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