The price of oil surged late Thursday after the killing of an Iranian military leader in a U.S.-authorized strike, raising concerns and escalation in tensions between Washington and Tehran that could threaten the world’s crude supplies.
Brent crude oil rallied over 4.4 per cent to USD 69.16 and WTI jumped 4.3 per cent to 63.84.
The benchmark S&P BSE was trading down by 157.26 points at 41,469.38 during intraday trade. Axis Bank, SBI and M&M were all down by over 1 per cent and Asian Paints and HDFC Bank were down by nearly 2 percent.
Whereas Sun Pharma followed by HCL Tech were up by 2.79 and 2.01 per cent respectively. These giants were followed by TCS, ONGC and Infosys between (approx.) 1.81 to 1.42 per cent.
The broader Nifty50 index slipped to 12,228.70 by 52.60 points.
The laggards on NSE were led by Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited, followed by Asian paint. On the other hand, Sun Pharma and GAIL were among the top gainers with 2.61 and 1.98 per cent respectively.
(With input from agencies)