Sensex, Nifty fall 0.7% as oil surge erases early gains

Mumbai: Indian equities declined on Monday, wiping out early gains and partly reversing Friday's bounce, as a spurt in crude oil prices following fresh attacks on Saudi Arabia by Iran-aligned Houthis over the weekend weighed on investor sentiment. The NSE Nifty 50 fell 0.70% to close at 22,363.35, while the BSE Sensex declined 0.76% to 71,924.68. Both indices had risen as much as 0.6% early in the day.

"Markets are likely to remain under pressure until crude oil prices eased significantly or there was greater clarity on a resolution to the conflict," said Utsav Verma, head of research at Choice Institutional Equities.

Sustained foreign investor selling and the pressure on the rupee also remain key concerns for markets, analysts said. Asian markets were largely under pressure on Monday, with South Korea tumbling 3.7% with the pace of sell-off in semiconductor giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Taiwan, the other semiconductor-driven market, ended 0.1% lower, recovering most of the early losses.

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Indonesia lost 2.6% and China's Shenzhen Composite fell 1.8%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.3%. Brent crude futures rose 1.2% to $106.19 a barrel, retracing earlier downsides, after the fresh attacks on Saudi Arabia, a major oil exporter, raised concerns over supplies from the region.

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In Indian markets, foreign portfolio investors were net sellers of equities worth ₹1,708.5 crore on Monday, while domestic institutional investors were net buyers to the tune of ₹3,045 crore, according to NSE provisional data.

Foreigners have sold $3.62 billion worth of Indian equities in October so far, following net sales of $4.14 billion in September. Their net selling in Indian equities has exceeded $33 billion so far in 2026, NSDL data showed.

So far this year, the Sensex and Nifty have lost over 15% each.