The share market tumbled three per cent today as investors dumped risky assets after Russian troops fired missiles at several Ukrainian cities which Kiev said was a full-scale invasion, sending oil prices higher and stoking inflation worries, reported India Today.
The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index was down 2.43 per cent at 16,649.30 and the S&P BSE Sensex was 2.50 per cent or 1,431.16 lower at 55,800.90. Both indexes were headed for their longest losing run since March 2020, extending falls to a seventh session.
“The looming risk of this crisis is no more there, it is a reality today,” said Aishvarya Dadheech, a fund manager at Ambit Asset Management in Mumbai, referring to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to a Reuters report.
“We have seen historically that with a crisis like this, the worst possible impact would be the drive in commodity prices, which for India will be on the adverse side as it could take inflation higher,” Aishvarya Dadheech said.
Nifty’s volatility index, which indicates the degree of volatility traders expect over the next 30 days in the Nifty 50, climbed to its highest since June 2020.
Oil breached $100 a barrel for the first time since 2014 as concerns grew that a war in Europe could disrupt global energy supplies.
India is the world’s third-largest importer of oil, and high global prices percolate through the economy and hurt consumers, while also widening the country’s current account deficit.