New Delhi, 11 May (H.S.): Indian equity markets started the week on a weak note as global risk‑off sentiment, fuelled by heightened Middle‑East tensions, triggered broad‑based selling pressure. The decision of U.S. President Donald Trump to reject Iran’s latest peace proposal has dimmed hopes of a swift easing of hostilities in West Asia, pushing crude‑oil prices higher once again and unsettling markets worldwide.

Domestic indices opened lower and gradually slipped further during early trade, with losses broadening in the first few hours of the session.

The BSE Sensex opened at 76,638.09, down 610.10 points, and briefly trimmed losses to touch 76,678.52 on modest intraday buying support. However, rising selling pressure soon accelerated the slide, pulling the index down by over 1,100 points to 76,165.57 at one point. By 11:00 a.m., the Sensex was trading around 76,311.82, lower by 1,016.37 points or about 1.31% from its previous‑close level.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty 50 began the day at 23,970.10, down 206.05 points or roughly 0.85%. After a brief recovery to 23,986.80, the index lost ground again, briefly slipping to 23,845.30 before settling near 23,890.85 by 11:00 a.m., marking a decline of about 285.30 points or 1.18%.

On the previous session, Friday had already ended weak, with the Sensex closing down 516.33 points (0.66%) at 77,328.19 and the Nifty slipping 150.50 points (0.62%) to 24,176.15, underscoring that the current selling wave is an extension of existing caution.

Amid the fall, a handful of heavyweight counters posted modest gains during morning trade. Shares of Tata Consumer Products, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Coal India, Max Healthcare Institute and HCL Technologies were trading in the green with positive moves ranging between 0.59% and 3.26%.

On the other hand, key large‑caps were under heavy selling pressure. Titan Company, InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo), State Bank of India (SBI), Eternal and Bharti Airtel were among the prominent decliners, shedding between 3.08% and 7.05% in early deals.

At the broader‑market level, the negative tone was evident across thousands of stocks. By the first few hours of trading, 2,839 scrips were actively traded on the main bourses, of which only 708 were trading higher, while 2,131 were in the red.

Within the Sensex 30, only 5 stocks were in the green by 11:00 a.m., while 25 remained in the red, reflecting widespread selling across bellwethers. In contrast, the Nifty 50 saw 10 stocks in positive territory and 40 in negative territory over the same period, underscoring a similar imbalance in favour of bearish momentum.

The immediate trigger for the risk‑off mood has been the renewed spike in crude‑oil prices following the U.S. rejection of Iran’s latest diplomatic overture, which has dashed hopes of an early de‑escalation in the region.

Higher crude projections have raised concerns over inflation, corporate costs and global‑growth prospects, prompting investors to pare exposure to equities in the early part of the week.

For the day session, that dynamic translated into a cautious to overtly negative bias in Indian equities, with both the Sensex and Nifty opening weak and staying under pressure as oil‑linked worries and global cues kept traders on the defensive.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar