Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], March 2 (ANI): The stock markets in the country tanked in the opening session on Monday as rising tensions and military escalations in the Middle East dented investor sentiment sharply.

The Nifty 50 index opened at 24,659.25, declining by 519.40 points or 2.06 per cent. The BSE Sensex opened at 78,512.05, falling 2,775.14 points or 3.41 per cent, reflecting heightened nervousness across domestic equities.

Market expert Ajay Bagga told ANI, 'Markets are searching for some moorings in a deeply uncertain world today. Reports that the Iranian Foreign Minister said Iran is not going to block the Straits of Hormuz and that the new Iranian leadership wants to resume negotiations with the US lead to a slight recovery in risk assets from their deep red levels this Asian morning.'

He further said Indian markets will assess three key impacts from the Iran-US conflict.

'The first risk transmitter is higher oil prices due to the de facto closure of the Straits of Hormuz. The second is the impact on major trading partners of India in the Gulf, with Indian exporters suffering due to the closure of these shipping lanes and supply chains. The third is the risk to the 9 million Indians who work in the Middle East,' Bagga said.

He added that the best outcome would be if the new Iranian leadership returns to negotiations, allows tankers to sail through the Straits of Hormuz, and stops attacking GCC targets.

'The worst outcome we all know and is consigned to a low probability event,' he noted.

In the broader markets on NSE, Nifty 100 declined by more than 2 per cent, Nifty Midcap 100 fell 3.43 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 dropped 3.78 per cent, indicating widespread selling pressure.

In the sectoral indices, Nifty Auto was down by 3.42 per cent, Nifty FMCG lost 2.3 per cent Nifty IT declined by 1.91 per cent overall selling sentiments were visible in all sectors in the opening session.

Sunil Gurjar, SEBI-registered analyst and Founder of Alphamojo Financial Services, said, 'The index has now slipped below its 200-EMA, which signals emerging long-term weakness in the overall structure. The decline was largely driven by global market weakness and rising bond yields, which reduced risk appetite among investors.'

He added that sustained closing below the 200-EMA in upcoming sessions could trigger a sharper fall. 'However, a strong bounce back from this level would indicate support holding and could confirm renewed bullish momentum,' he said.

In the commodity markets, gold prices surged 3 per cent to Rs 1,67,329 per 10 gm for 24 karat, while silver prices rose 3.89 per cent to Rs 2,85,700 per kg.

Other Asian markets also witnessed selling pressure. Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 1.55 per cent to 57,930 level, Singapore's Straits Times declined 1.86 per cent to 4,903 level, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped more than 2 per cent to 26,113, and Taiwan's weighted index lost 0.33 per cent to 35,297 level.

In the US markets, Dow Jones Futures were down 0.77 per cent at 48,593, indicating selling pressure. On Friday, the S&P 500 index declined 0.43 per cent to 6,878, while the Nasdaq fell 0.94 per cent to 22,663 level. (ANI)