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Monday, March 30, 2026

30/03/26, Market in the Opening

 Benchmark indices  SENSEX and Nifty saw intense selling pressure for second straight session on March 30 as rising crude prices led to risk-off market sentiment.

At 09:18 hrs IST, the Sensex was down 996.80 points or 1.35% at 72,586.42, and the Nifty was down 294.70 points or 1.29% at 22,524.90. About 686 shares advanced, 2212 shares declined, and 176 shares unchanged.

Rising crude prices:
Brent crude rose 3% to $115.98 a barrel, bringing its gains for the month to 60% and topping the jump that followed Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. US crude climbed 3 to $102.52, making a monthly rise of 53%.

The US-Israeli war on Iran has entered its fifth week and spread further across the Middle East, with Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis launching attacks on Israel over the weekend, stoking fears of disruptions to shipping lanes around the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea.

Meanwhile, Pakistan said on Sunday it was preparing to host "meaningful talks" in the coming days to end the war, even as Tehran warned it was ready to respond if Washington deployed troops on the ground.

Bank shares fall

Bank Nifty fell over 2% as the central bank has tightened limits on lenders' net open forex positions as it moved to curb volatility in the weakening rupee.

The Reserve Bank of India late Friday directed banks to cap their net open rupee positions in the foreign exchange market at $100 million by the end of each business day, with compliance required latest by April 10.

The RBI's curbs on onshore position limits are expected to lead to dollar selling by banks in the domestic foreign exchange market amid unwinding of existing arbitrage positions.

These arbitrage trades were built by buying dollars onshore and selling them in the NDF market to exploit the spread between the two segments.

This spread had widened significantly amid a pickup in volatility and the fall in rupee on heightened risk aversion and oil-driven pressures linked to the Iran war.

The size of such positions is estimated at $25 billion to over $50 billion.

Selling by foreign investors continues

Foreign investors offloaded Rs 4,367 crore worth of Indian shares on Friday, per provisional data.

"FPIs were net sellers on all trading days in March, so far, taking the total FPI selling through exchanges in March through 27th to a record Rs 1,18,093 crore, as per NSDL data. The weakness in global equity markets following the war in West Asia, the steady depreciation of the rupee, fears of decline in remittances from the Gulf region and concerns surrounding the impact of high crude price on India's growth and corporate earnings contributed to the sustained selling by FPIs," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited.

Monthly Nifty F&O Expiry

With March 30 being monthly Nifty F&O Expiry, volatility is expected. Markets are shut on March 31 for a holiday.

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30/03/26, PostMarket REPORT

  Benchmark indices   SENSEX  and Nifty faced intense selling pressure for second straight session on March 30 after oil surged above $114 a...