Indian Shares Extend Losses For Third Day

(RTTNews) - Indian shares fell sharply on Wednesday to extend losses for a third straight session as escalating Middle East tensions as well as tariff worries sapped investors' appetite for risk.

Brent crude futures jumped more than 4 percent to hover around $95 a barrel, climbing for a fourth day and hitting a seven-week high, after the U.S. military carried out its 11th consecutive night of strikes against Iran and President Donald Trump vowed to bomb Pickaxe Mountain.

Trump played down the prospects of near-term talks with Iran and warned that U.S. forces could strike Iran's Pickaxe Mountain, which is located near Natanz and is believed to house an undeclared nuclear enrichment facility.

Iranian media reported explosions in Bushehr, home to the Iranian nuclear power plant, signaling a further escalation in hostilities.

The Red Sea is emerging as a new flashpoint after Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels announced a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia. A Kuwaiti tanker carrying oil products was struck in Hormuz, underscoring persistent threats to maritime traffic.

It is feared that Brent prices could climb back above $100 a barrel if the Middle East conflict drags on.

Tariff worries also returned to the fore as Trump unveiled a phased tariff plan for imported generic medicines after imposing a 50 percent tariff on a wide range of goods imported from Canada.

Under the proposal, generic drugs imported into the U.S. will continue to face zero tariffs until August 2028, after which duties will increase to 100 percent and then 200 percent, to incentivize U.S. manufacturing.

The benchmark 30-share Sensex fell 715.06 points, or 0.92 percent, to 76,755.05, recording its sharpest single-day decline in 10 trading sessions.

The NSE Nifty index dropped 191.45 points, or 0.79 percent, to 23,996.25, extending losses for a third day running and wiping out about Rs. 4.2 lakh crore from investors' wealth.

The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes tumbled 1.1 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.

The market breath was weak on the BSE, with 2,779 shares falling while 1,459 shares rose and 180 shares closed unchanged.

Among the prominent decliners, airline Indigo lost 3.6 percent while ICICI Bank, UltraTech Cement, SBI and Infosys all fell around 2 percent.

Pharma stocks faced heavy selling pressure, with Lupin plunging 4.2 percent, Dr Reddy's Laboratories falling 2 percent and Sun Pharma dropping 1 percent.