Indian Shares Slump As Brent Tops $105

(RTTNews) - Indian shares tumbled on Thursday after oil prices rose sharply overnight and U.S. bond yields jumped to their highest levels in nearly two decades, raising concern about India's import bill, inflation and earnings.

A strengthening U.S. dollar, which clung to a two-month high, on rising interest-rate expectations also kept investors on edge.

Brent crude futures jumped above $105 a barrel today amid heightened uncertainty surrounding U.S.-Iran negotiations.

After U.S. President Trump threatened to 'annihilate' Iran, Tehran said it is 'ready for dialogue and diplomacy and negotiations without accepting the language of force.'

Delivering a defiant speech at the United Nations on Wednesday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian condemned what he called "signs of a bullying mentality" from the U.S. and said that Iran would never surrender.

Earlier in the day, Iran's security chief Mohsen Rezaei said the Strait of Hormuz would not be reopened while Iran's conditions are not met.

In a video released by Iran's Fars news agency, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei has warned that Tehran may expand the Middle East war to the Indian Ocean and perhaps beyond, if the U.S. or Israel attacks again.

The benchmark 30-share BSE Sensex plunged 1,247.71 points, or 1.67 percent, to 73,580.54, weighed down primarily by financial stocks after the IRDAI proposed a sweeping revamp of insurance distribution rules through a new consultation paper.

The NSE Nifty index plummeted 383.70 points, or 1.64 percent, to 23,063.10 while the BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes fell 2.1 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.

The market breadth was weak on the BSE, with 2,878 shares falling while 1,477 shares rose and 218 shares closed unchanged.

Among the prominent decliners, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, Reliance Industries, Mahindra & Mahindra, Trent, Indigo, Bajaj FinServ, Axis Bank and Bajaj Finance lost 2-5 percent.