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Informist, Thursday, Mar. 12, 2026                                      Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

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Equity Alert: US indices end mixed as oil prices stay elevated

 

MUMBAI--0715 IST--US indices ended mixed Wednesday as the conflict in West Asia intensified. Two of the three major indices in the region ended in the red. Oil prices continued to rise even after the International Energy Agency said it would release 400 million barrels of crude oil from its emergency reserves in an effort to help mitigate the disruption in oil supply caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz as hostilities between the US and Iran continued. 

 

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was the only major index to rise and closed 0.08% higher, while both the Dow Jones and S&P 500 were down 0.6% and 0.08%, respectively. Notably, shares of software vendor Oracle jumped 10?ter the company's quarterly results beat the Street's expectations and it raised the revenue growth guidance for fiscal 2027, CNBC reported. The tech-major reported a revenue of $17.19 billion against the expectation of $16.91 billion in the third quarter of fiscal 2026, CNBC reported.  

 

The risk of a prolonged conflict in West Asia threaten to keep oil prices elevated, which have risen over 37% from their pre-war levels. At 0728 IST, Brent crude futures were $98.11 per barrel, nearly 7% higher. On Tuesday, US forces sunk several Iranian ships, which included 16 minelayers, near the Strait of Hormuz, CNBC reported. Further, three cargo ships had been struck by projectiles off the cost of Iran, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations center.

 

"The longer the oil spike persists, the higher the downside risk to earnings and valuations," said Emmanuel Cau, head of European equity strategy at Barclays, in a note on Wednesday, according to CNBC.

 

Following are the closing levels of US indices Wednesday:

 

Index	Level	Change in %
S&P 500	6775.8	(-)0.08
NASDAQ Composite	22716.14	0.08
Dow Jones Industrial Average	47417.27	(-)0.61

 

(Shruti Nair)

 

US$1 = INR 92.04

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Tanima Banerjee

 

All prices from National Stock Exchange, unless otherwise specified.

All percentage changes for share prices are rounded off to the nearest whole number; percentage changes for index values are rounded off to one decimal place.

All times are Indian Standard Time.

 

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