Mumbai, May 8, 2026, 16:33 IST
Indian shares fell for a second straight session on Friday, with the Sensex dropping 516.33 points and the Nifty 50 closing below 24,200, as renewed U.S.-Iran fighting lifted crude oil prices and cut into this week’s relief trade.
The BSE Sensex closed down 0.66% at 77,328.19, while the NSE Nifty 50 lost 150.50 points, or 0.62%, to end at 24,176.15. NSE data showed the Nifty at that level at the 15:30 close.
The selloff matters now because the market had spent much of the week pricing in a possible easing of the West Asia conflict. That trade was hit after the United States and Iran exchanged fire near the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping route, while both sides still played down the chance of a wider break in the ceasefire.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, traded above $100 a barrel, Reuters reported. For Indian equities, expensive oil is not just a commodity headline; it can pressure the rupee, raise import costs and squeeze company margins.
“Sentiment is completely hostage to the Iran war,” Raghvendra Nath, managing director at Ladderup Asset Managers, told Reuters. He said elevated crude prices would add macroeconomic and earnings pressure, even as March-quarter results had so far helped cushion the market. Reuters
State Bank of India was a sharp drag after the country’s largest lender missed fourth-quarter profit estimates. Reuters said SBI’s standalone net profit rose to 196.84 billion rupees from 186.43 billion rupees a year earlier, but came in below analysts’ expectations of 203.12 billion rupees as treasury income fell.
SBI shares fell as much as 7.43% after the results, Reuters reported. Net interest income — core lending income, or the difference between interest earned and interest paid — rose 4.1%, but margins narrowed and income from treasury operations dropped from a year earlier.
The broader tape was weaker, though not broken. Moneycontrol reported 1,988 advancing shares against 2,048 decliners at the close, with the Nifty Midcap index down 0.15% and the smallcap index up 0.22%. PSU banks fell 3%, while oil and gas lost 1%; IT, healthcare, consumer durables and FMCG ended higher.
The rupee also stayed under pressure, ending 23 paise lower at 94.48 per dollar from 94.25 in the previous session, Moneycontrol reported. Foreign institutional investors, or overseas funds investing in Indian markets, sold equities worth 340.89 crore rupees on Thursday, adding another weak point for sentiment.
“The deescalation-escalation drama in West Asia continues,” V.K. Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Investments, was quoted as saying by Moneycontrol, referring to crude prices moving with the news flow. Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money, said Indian equities were likely to stay “highly sensitive to news flow.” Moneycontrol
Some stock-specific moves cut against the main index fall. Britannia Industries dropped 4% after brokerages flagged slower sales growth despite a rise in March-quarter profit, while Dabur India gained 2% after quarterly earnings beat estimates, Moneycontrol said.
Reuters said the Nifty and Sensex still finished the week higher by 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively, helped earlier by hopes of a U.S.-Iran peace deal and steady earnings. The auto index rose 5.2% for the week, led by gains in Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp.
The risk is that the market is now trading less on domestic earnings and more on oil and war headlines. If crude holds above $100 and the rupee weakens further, banks, energy users and import-sensitive sectors could face another round of pressure; if talks resume and oil cools, Friday’s fall may look more like a profit-taking break than the start of a deeper slide.
