Sensex drops 200 points, Nifty falls below 24,150 as US announces harsher sanctions against Iran. What lies ahead?

The Indian stock market extended losses on Tuesday, with Sensex and Nifty opening in the red even as oil prices remained steady after falling sharply in the previous session after the US imposed harsher secondary sanctions against Iran.

After opening, Sensex dropped 200 points to fall below 77,150, while Nifty 50 lost 83 points to 24,136 on Tuesday morning. Broader markets also opened in the red, with Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 falling up to 0.5%.

HCL Tech and Tech Mahindra shares were the top losers on Sensex, falling around 1%, while Trent shares gained more than 1%. India VIX, which measures volatility in the market, meanwhile dropped 6% to 10.87.


Among the sectors, Nifty Metal dropped around 0.6% while Nifty IT was down 0.4%. The overall market breadth however turned positive, with NSE seeing 1,626 advances against 1,248 declines, while 112 stocks remained unchanged.

What lies ahead for Nifty?

Technically, the Nifty remains subdued as long as it trades below the 24,350 level, said Rajesh Palviya, Head of Research at Axis Direct. He noted that the immediate support is placed at 24,150, followed by 23,950, while 24,500 remains the key resistance zone.

The near-term bias is likely to remain cautiously positive at the open but rangebound thereafter, he added, noting that a sustained decline in crude oil prices, however, could provide renewed support to equities and improve overall market sentiment.

(With inputs from agencies)
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