FX.co ★ Sensex, Nifty Extend Losses As Israel Launches Strike On Iran

Indian stocks suffered for the fifth consecutive day on Friday amidst concerns about potential U.S. rate hikes and a significant surge in oil prices because of increasing tensions in the Middle East. This escalation followed reports of Israeli strikes against Iran.

The S&P BSE Sensex, India's benchmark index, declined by 0.7%, or 515 points, starting the day at 71,973. Similarly, the wider NSE Nifty dropped by 0.7% or 156 points to 21,839 in early trading.

HDFC Life Insurance Company's shares decreased by 2.3% following the announcement of Deepak Parekh's resignation as Chairman and Non-Executive Director of the firm.

Leading international IT consulting company, Infosys, saw a drop of 2.1% in its stocks after their muted forecast for revenue growth, which is predicted to be between 1-3% for FY25.

Bajaj Auto's shares fell by 2.5% even though the company reported better-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter.

The shares of Rail Vikas Nigam also dropped almost 2% despite the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Turkish Engineering Consulting and Contracting-TUMAS India Private Limited for various infrastructure projects in India.

In contrast, a few companies saw gains. ONGC's shares increased by 1.7%, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise's by 1.3%, and ITC's by 0.9%.