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Informist, Thursday, Mar. 19, 2026

 

By Arya S. Biju

 

MUMBAI – Dalal Street saw its worst single-day fall in nearly two years as crude oil prices surged past $119 per barrel after some of the world's most critical energy facilities were hit in a fresh wave of attacks in West Asia. Both the benchmark indices closed 3.3% lower, their worst single-day fall since June 2024.

 

The conflict between Iran and the US-Israel combine entered its 20th day Thursday with no sign of de-escalation. On the contrary, Qatar said Iranian missile attacks on Ras Laffan Industrial City, the country's main gas facility, caused "significant damage". This followed Israel's strike on Iran's South Pars gas field Wednesday. Iran accused Israel of striking its facilities and threatened to attack oil and gas infrastructure throughout ‌the Gulf, firing missiles at Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which heightened the risk of further disruptions to energy supplies from the region.

 

US President Donald Trump said his administration knew nothing of the strike on Iran's South Pars gas field, nor was Qatar involved in any way. He said it was all Israel's doing and pledged that it would make no more attacks on Iran's gas field. He also said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social that if Iran attacked Qatar again, the US would retaliate and "massively blow up the entirety" of the gas field.

 

Thursday, the Nifty 50 closed at 23002.15 points, down over 775.65 points or 3.3% from Wednesday's close. The BSE Sensex settled at 74207.24 points, down 2496.89 points or 3.3%. With this, the indices erased the near 3?ch they gained in the previous three sessions.

 

Both the headline indices recorded their lowest closing level since April. After opening gap-down, the Nifty 50 found support at around 22900 points, as analysts had expected. A sharp fall in automobile and financial services stocks and a decline in index heavyweight HDFC Bank dragged the 50-stock index down. Oil and Natural Gas Corp. was the only Nifty 50 constituent to end higher, up 1.6%. In the broader Nifty 200 group, only four stocks eneded in positive territory.

 

A hawkish stance by the US Federal Reserve, signalling higher inflation amid heightened geopolitical uncertainty, also weighed on investor sentiment. The central bank's open market committee left the federal funds target range unchanged at 3.50-3.75%, as was widely expected. The central bank's 'dot plot', which reflects individual members' policy rate projections, pointed to just one rate cut in 2026 from the two projected earlier.

 

The Bank of Japan also kept its interest rate unchanged at its latest policy meeting Thursday amid the escalating crisis in West Asia and volatile energy markets. The central bank, however, stuck to its stance of continuing to seek rate hikes.

 

The pain in the benchmark indices was also reflected in the broader market indices, which fell 2.6–3.3%. These indices fell after rising for two sessions. All sectoral indices also closed in the red. The Nifty Auto, Nifty India Defence, Nifty Financial Services, and Nifty Realty were the worst hit, down 3.7-4.3%.

 

Shares of oil marketing companies such as Hindustan Petroleum Corp., Bharat Petroleum Corp., and Indian Oil Corp. closed 4-7% lower amid a further rise in crude oil prices following attacks on energy infrastructure in West Asia. At 1637 IST, the May futures contract of Brent Crude was up around 7% at $114.57 per barrel. Oil marketing companies, with no retail pricing freedom, will have to absorb the higher crude oil, freight, and insurance costs, Kotak Institutional Equities said in a report. The brokerage has raised its oil price assumptions to $85 a barrel for the financial year 2026–27 (Apr-Mar) and $75 a barrel for FY28. It expects a prolonged conflict in West Asia to keep oil prices high for several months.

 

Shares of automobile companies slumped as a sharp rise in crude oil prices soured investor sentiment towards the sector. Concern about margin pressure in the upcoming quarter have also crept back in, an analyst at a fund management company said. The rise in cost of inputs for automobile production is likely to result in margin pressure for these companies. However, some analysts have noted that they do not see a cut in production as domestic demand remains robust. However, this view comes with the assumption that the war in West Asia is unlikely to last for more than a month. 

 

Among individual stocks, HDFC Bank plunged after the bank's part-time chairman Atanu Chakraborty resigned Wednesday saying certain practices and happenings within the bank over the past two years were not in alignment with his personal "values and ethics". However, in a call with analysts later, the bank said it was unaware of the specifics of issues cited by the former director. No specific issues or happenings were brought to the board's attention, the management said in the call.

 

Shares of Rajputana Stainless closed over 7% lower after listing at their issue price of INR 122 on the National Stock Exchange. The initial public offering and the listing of the company were postponed from earlier planned dates following action against the company by the Securities and Exchange Board of India for sharing emails and videos that made an invitation to participate in the issue.  End 

 

* Of the Nifty 50 stocks, 1 rose and 49 fell

* Of the Sensex stocks, all 30 fell

* On the NSE, 532 stocks rose, 2,677 fell, and 97 were unchanged

* On the BSE, 913 stocks rose, 3,359 fell, and 132 were unchanged

* Nifty Auto: down 4.3%; Nifty Realty: down 3.8%; Nifty Energy: down 1.4%

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BSE                                              NSE

Sensex: 74207.24, down 2496.89 points or 3.3%       Nifty 50: 23002.15, down 775.65 points or 3.3%

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S&P BSE Sensitive Index	Nifty 50
Lifetime High: 86159.02 (Dec. 1, 2025)	: Lifetime High: 26373.20 (Jan. 5, 2026)
Record Close High: 85836.12 (Sept. 26, 2024)	: Record Close High: 26328.55 (Jan. 2, 2026)
2026 1st day close: 85188.60 (Jan. 1)	: 2026 1st day close: 26146.55 (Jan. 1)
2026 Closing High: 85762.01 (Jan. 2)	: 2026 Closing High: 26328.55 (Jan. 2)
2026 Closing Low: 74207.24 (Mar. 19)	: 2026 Closing Low: 23002.15 (Mar. 19)
2026 High (intraday): 85883.50 (Jan. 5)	: 2026 High (intraday): 26373.20 (Jan. 5)
2026 Low (intraday): 73949.76 (Mar. 16)	: 2026 Low (intraday): 22930.35 (Mar. 19)
2025 1st day close: 78507.41 (Jan. 1)	: 2025 1st day close: 23742.90 (Jan. 1)
2025 Closing High: 85720.38 (Nov. 27)	: 2025 Closing High: 26215.55 (Nov. 27)
2025 Closing Low: 72989.93 (Mar. 4)	: 2025 Closing Low: 22082.65 (Mar. 4)
2025 High (intraday): 86159.02 (Dec. 1)	: 2025 High (intraday): 26325.80 (Dec.1)
2025 Low (intraday): 71425.01 (Apr. 7)	: 2025 Low (intraday): 21743.65 (Apr. 7)
2024 1st day close: 72271.94 (Jan. 1)	: 2024 1st day close: 21741.90 (Jan. 1)
2024 Closing High: 85836.12 (Sept. 26)	: 2024 Closing High: 26216.05 (Sept. 26)
2024 Closing Low: 70370.55 (Jan. 23)	: 2024 Closing Low: 21238.80 (Jan. 23)
2024 High (intraday): 85978.25 (Sep. 27)	: 2024 High (intraday): 26277.35 (Sept. 27)
2024 Low (intraday): 70001.60 (Jan. 24)	: 2024 Low (intraday): 21137.20 (Jan. 24)
2023 1st day close: 61167.79 (Jan. 2)	: 2023 1st day close: 18197.45 (Jan. 2)
2023 Closing High: 72410.38 (Dec. 28)	: 2023 Closing High: 21778.70 (Dec. 28)
2023 Closing Low: 59288.35 (Feb. 27)	: 2023 Closing Low: 17311.80 (Oct. 17)
2023 High (intraday): 72484.34 (Dec. 28)	: 2023 High (intraday): 21801.45 (Dec. 28)
2023 Low (intraday): 58699.20 (Jan. 30)	: 2023 Low (intraday): 17098.55 (Jan. 17)
2022 1st day close: 59183.22 (Jan. 3)	: 2022 1st day close: 17625.70 (Jan. 3)
2022 Closing High: 63284.19 (Dec. 1)	: 2022 Closing High: 18812.50 (Dec. 1)
2022 Closing Low: 51360.42 (Jun. 17)	: 2022 Closing Low: 15293.50 (Jun. 17)
2022 High (intraday): 63583.07 (Dec. 1)	: 2022 High (intraday): 18887.60 (Dec. 1)
2022 Low (intraday): 50921.22 (Jun. 17)	: 2022 Low (intraday): 15183.40 (Jun. 17)
2021 Closing High: 61305.95 (Oct. 14)	: 2021 Closing High: 18338.55 (Oct. 14)
2021 Closing Low: 46285.77 (Jan. 29)	: 2021 Closing Low: 13634.60 (Jan. 29)
2021 High (intraday): 61353.25 (Oct. 14)	: 2021 High (intraday): 18350.75 (Oct. 14)
2021 Low (intraday): 46160.46 (Jan. 29)	: 2021 Low (intraday): 13596.75 (Jan. 29)
2020 Closing High: 47751.33 (Dec. 31)	: 2020 Closing High: 13981.95 (Dec. 30)
2020 Closing Low: 25981.24 (Mar. 23)	: 2020 Closing Low: 7610.25 (Mar. 23)
2020 High (intraday): 47896.97 (Dec. 31)	: 2020 High (intraday): 14024.85 (Dec. 31)
2020 Low (intraday): 25638.90 (Mar. 24)	: 2020 Low (intraday): 7511.10 (Mar. 24)
2019 High (intraday): 41809.96 (Dec. 20)	: 2019 High (intraday): 12293.90 (Dec. 20)
2019 Low (intraday): 35287.16 (Feb. 19)	: 2019 Low (intraday): 10583.65 (Jan. 29)
2018 High (intraday): 38938.91(Aug. 28))	: 2018 High(intraday): 11760.20 (Aug. 28)
2018 Low (intraday): 32483.8 (Mar. 23)	: 2018 Low (intraday): 9951.9 (Mar. 23)
2017 High (intraday): 34005.37 (Dec. 26)	: 2017 High(intraday): 10515.10 (Dec. 26)

 

End

 

US$1 = INR 92.63

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

 

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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