Stock Market today: Logistics as well as port stocks declined up to 10% in intra-day deals on Monday, March 2, as global tensions flared sharply over the weekend. The United States and Israel launched large-scale military operations inside Iran, with reports indicating that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed during the initial wave of attacks. The sudden escalation unsettled financial markets worldwide, sparking a rush into safe-haven assets and triggering sharp swings across commodities, currencies and equities.
The situation deteriorated rapidly over the weekend as joint US-Israeli strikes hit multiple strategic and military targets across Iranian territory. In response, Tehran launched retaliatory missile barrages directed at Israel and American military facilities across the region. Several sites in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain were reportedly targeted, raising concerns that the confrontation could evolve into a wider regional conflict with far-reaching economic consequences.
Stock Performace
Gujarat Pipavav Port and JSW Infra crashed 4.7% each while Adani Ports lost 4.6%.
Meanwhile, among logistic stocks, Delhivery tanked 10% and Blue Dart Express lost nearly 7%. Meanwhile, Container Corporation of India shed 6.8% to its 52-week low of ₹461.85, whereas, TCI was down 5%.
Stock Market today
A wave of risk aversion swept through Dalal Street on Monday, March 2, after geopolitical tensions in the Middle East escalated into a full-scale conflict over the weekend. Weak cues from Asian markets compounded the pressure, triggering a sharp gap-down opening for Indian equities.
The Sensex opened deep in the red, tumbling 2,743 points, or 3.34%, to 78,543.73 as investors reacted to the global shock. However, the panic selling eased as the session progressed. The benchmark recouped a sizeable portion of its early losses within the first hour and was later trading around 1% lower, indicating some stabilisation amid continued volatility.
The Nifty 50 followed a similar trajectory. The index initially plunged more than 500 points, or over 2%, sliding to an intraday low of 24,645. As buying interest emerged at lower levels, it pared part of the decline and hovered near the 1% loss mark later in the morning trade.
The early slump significantly dented investor wealth. The combined market capitalisation of companies listed on the BSE contracted by nearly ₹5 lakh crore, declining to ₹458.60 lakh crore compared with ₹463.50 lakh crore in the previous session.
“Experience tells us that panic selling during during a crisis is wrong strategy. Investors should refrain from selling and watch how things evolve. Data from crises during the last many decades tells us that an event like the present crisis will not have any impact on the market six months later. This is the takeaway from the market behaviour after the recent crises like the Covid crisis, Russia-Ukraine war and the Gaza conflict. The ongoing West Asian crisis is unlikely to be different. However, since a war can spring unexpected surprises, investors have to be cautious.
Weakness in the market can be used to slowly accumulate high quality stocks in domestic consumption themes like banking, automobiles, capital goods and defense,” suggested VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments.
Disclaimer: The views and recommendations made above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, and not of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before making any investment decisions.
