Nifty closes below key 23,800 level on Gulf war ripples

Indian equities fell on Friday, as a spike in crude oil prices and depreciation in the rupee kept investors on edge. Though the main indices partly recovered from lows, the Nifty's closing below a key support level of 23,800 has increased the likelihood of further declines.

NSE's Nifty fell 102.15 points or 0.4% to close at 23,767.45. BSE's Sensex declined 331.6 points or 0.4% to end at 76,059.77. Both indices had declined as much as 1.2% before recovering on Friday.

"A combination of global and domestic factors, including the spike in crude oil prices and the continued depreciation of the Indian rupee, has weighed on market sentiment," said Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research, Kotak Securities. "Also, the rise in the US 10-year Treasury yield to 4.71%, its highest level in several months, has added to investor concerns," he said.

For the week, the Sensex and Nifty fell 2.3%- their highest weekly fall since early May and March, respectively.

Brent crude September futures were trading at $97.5 a barrel on Friday after climbing above $100 for the first time since May after Yemen's Houthi movement, backed by Iran, claimed its forces attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, while the US carried out more strikes on Iran.

Dharmesh Shah, head of technical research at ICICI Securities, said that losses narrowed intraday as crude oil eased from around $101 to $97 per barrel.

On Friday, the market's fear gauge- the Nifty's Volatility Index or VIX went up by 4.1% to 14.03 levels.