Indian Shares End Choppy Session Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - Indian shares ended a choppy session modestly lower on Thursday amid heightened U.S.-Iran tensions and Fed rate hike concerns.

The downside remained capped somewhat as oil prices fell in international markets despite the recent escalation of hostilities between the U.S. and Iran.

The rupee was a tad lower as fresh U.S.-Iran military clashes cast doubt on the prospects for a peace deal, and in-line U.S. inflation data kept Fed rate-hike expectations intact.

After launching a wave of new strikes on multiple targets in Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump said that the Iranians were delaying a deal and that there would be more attacks if no peace deal is secured.

While the U.S. military said that it had "completed" its latest wave of strikes against Iran, the latter vowed to retaliate and accused the U.S. of 'war crimes', citing damage to civilian infrastructure.

Tehran also announced it would keep the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global energy shipping route, "completely closed to all type of vessels."

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said early today they had launched counterattacks on 18 U.S.-military targets at airbases in Kuwait and Bahrain, denting hopes for a peace deal anytime soon.

The benchmark BSE Sensex ended a choppy session down 150.3 points, or 0.20 percent, at 73,832.55 while the broader NSE Nifty index slipped 53.35 points, or 0.23 percent, to 23,161.60.

The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes fell 0.8 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively. The market breadth was weak on the BSE, with 2,798 shares falling while 1,389 shares advanced and 202 shares closed unchanged.

IT stocks were among the worst hit, with Infosys losing 2.7 percent and HCL Technologies falling 2 percent.

Among other prominent decliners, Bajaj FinServ, Indigo, Asian Paints, Trent, Hindustan Unilever, Larsen & Toubro, BEL, Eternal, Bajaj Finance and Adani Ports dropped 1-2 percent.

Private sector banks performed well, with Kotak Mahindra Bank rising 1.1 percent and ICICI Bank climbing 1.6 percent.