Indian shares muted as Middle East conflict dents sentiment
June 16 (Reuters) - India's benchmark indexes were muted on Monday, pausing after two straight sessions of losses as the conflict between Israel and Iran showed no signs of cooling, keeping investors wary and adding to geopolitical uncertainty around the world.
The Nifty 50 was up 0.18% at 24,764.4 and the BSE Sensex rose 0.15% to 81,245.5, as of 10:12 a.m. IST. They rose about 0.4% each in early trade, before paring gains.
Nine of the 13 major sectors logged losses. The smallcaps and midcaps lost about 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively.
Both the benchmarks posted weekly losses on Friday as Israel's military strikes on Iran escalated tensions in the Middle East. Over the weekend, both sides launched fresh attacks, raising geopolitical concerns.
Crude prices climbed amid concerns over supply disruptions in the oil-rich Middle East. Higher oil prices are a negative for India, which imports the bulk of its energy needs.
"The key risk for Indian equities is the Israel-Iran conflict. Any sustained rise in crude will hurt macro stability," said G Chokkalingam, founder and head of research of Equinomics Research.
Other Asian markets were also muted, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index trading flat.
Among individual stocks, Tata Motors fell 5.4% after projecting fiscal 2026 operating margins of 5%-7%, below its earlier 10% target for its luxury unit JLR.
Tata Motors was the top loser in the Nifty 50 index and also dragged the auto index 1% lower.
HDFC Asset Management Company slipped 2% after JPMorgan downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "overweight", citing limited near-term catalysts following a 33% rally over the past three months.
Airline operator SpiceJet gained 3% after its March-quarter net profit doubled year-on-year.
Oil explorers such as ONGC and Oil India rose 0.5% and 1.5% respectively, as higher crude prices lifted realisation prospects.
($1 = 86.0810 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Rashmi Aich)
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