Indian Shares Open Lower As Oil Price Surge Fuels Economic Uncertainty

(RTTNews) - Indian shares opened lower on Friday as the West Asia conflict escalated, resulting in a sharp spike in oil and gasoline prices and threatening to set off convulsions in the world economy.

Among the prominent decliners, Bharti Airtel, SBI, HDFC Bank, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj FinServ, Larsen & Toubro, IndiGo, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank were down 1-2 percent.

The benchmark BSE Sensex was down 462 points, or 0.6 percent, at 79,553 in early trade while the broader NSE Nifty index dipped 145 points, or 0.6 percent, to 24,627.

BPCL, HPCL and IOC were down 1-2 percent after Brent crude futures climbed above $85 a barrel on Thursday and U.S. crude futures jumped 8.5 percent to $81.01, its highest price since July 2024 amid a worsening situation across West Asia.

Oil prices were down over 1 percent in Asian trading today after the United States issued a general license to allow for some Russian oil sales to India.

Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers soared 5.4 percent after signing a pact with Kalyani Strategic Systems to jointly develop indigenous advanced naval systems.

DCX Systems skyrocketed 10 percent on receiving an order worth Rs. 68.05 crore from Hindustan Aeronautics.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories fell about 1 percent after the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) issued a Voluntary Action Indicated report for its Srikakulam facility.

Standard Engineering Technology surged 1.2 percent after signing a target-based conditional distribution agreement with API Pharma Pharmaceutical Trading.