Story Content

The West Asia conflict between the US and Israel, with Israel as a possible invader, caused the Indian equity yardsticks to hit an all-time low on March 23, 2026, after the BSE Sensex plummeted more than 1,500 points (intraday low of 72,977) as well as the NSE Nifty dropping below 22,600, which indicates that investors were all in panic over the current situation in the region.

Fears of a long-term disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the main oil routes to get into the market, caused the sell-off as Brent crude prices by far shot up. This has brought about the issue of inflation and endangered the power security of India, as well, as the Gulf imports are significant in India. It was also under a new record low of around 9394 against the US dollar, which further compounded the problem.

Wholesale selling was observed in all sectors, where banking, auto, oil and gas, and metals were mostly making losses. According to market gurus, since the late part of February, the war has wiped out several lakh crore in market capitalization already. Although others may interpret the fall as the overreaction and look forward to the rebound of any de-escalation indicators or the Trump diplomatic action, volatility is still highly likely to be high in the near future.