Domestic equity indices continued to witness bloodbath and were trading lower with cut of around one and half percent in late morning deals after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran over the weekend. Rising crude oil prices and weak global cues weighed on the domestic sentiments. Crude oil prices surged as Iran and Israel stepped up attacks in the Middle East, damaging tankers and disrupting shipments from the key producing region. Meanwhile, India VIX, the measure of market volatility in the domestic market, rose as much as 16.55 per cent to 15.97. Further, Indian rupee, which slipped 37 paise to trade at 91.45 against the US dollar, made traders all the more nervous.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red following the broadly negative cues from US markets on Friday, as traders remained cautious and concerned about the fallout of the outbreak of hostilities between the United States and Israel against Iran. Back home, All the sectoral indices on the BSE were trading in red led by Auto down, Utilities, Consumer Disc, Industrials and Consumer Durables.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 80061.86, down by 1225.33 points or 1.51% after trading in a range of 78543.73 and 80632.55. There were 2 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto down by 2.26%, Utilities down by 2.16%, Consumer Disc down by 2.12%, Industrials down by 2.07% and Consumer Durables down by 1.89%, while there were no gainers on sectoral indices. 

The only gainers on the Sensex were Bharat Electronics up by 2.00% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.18%. On the flip side, Larsen & Toubro down by 5.64%, Interglobe Aviation down by 4.64%, Adani Ports down by 3.48%, Maruti Suzuki down by 3.07% and Asian Paints down by 2.43% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government data has showed that gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection rose 8.1 per cent to over Rs 1.83 lakh crore in February 2026 as compared to Rs 1.69 lakh crore collected in February 2025. The rise was driven largely by strong growth in tax collections from imports. 

Gross tax collections from domestic transactions grew 5.3 per cent to Rs 1.36 lakh crore, while import revenues were up 17.2 per cent to Rs 47,837 crore in February. Total refunds were up 10.2 per cent year-on-year at Rs 22,595 crore for the month under review.  Total net GST collection stood at over Rs 1.61 lakh crore, up 7.9 per cent year-on-year. Net cess revenue was Rs 5,063 crore, down from Rs 13,481 crore in February last year.  

The GST collections had initially dipped in the first month of tax cut implementation, with revenues declining to Rs 1.70 lakh crore in November 2025. The collection rose to Rs 1.74 lakh crore in December 2025 and further to Rs 1.93 lakh crore in January 2026. Meanwhile, effective September 22, 2025, GST rates on about 375 items were slashed, making goods cheaper. Also, four tax slabs of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent were merged into two of 5 per cent and 18 per cent, with a highest 40 per cent slab for a select few ultra luxury goods and tobacco products. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24803.00, down by 375.65 points or 1.49% after trading in a range of 24645.10 and 24989.35. There were 4 stocks advancing against 46 stocks declining on the index.

The few gainers on Nifty were Bharat Electronics up by 1.89%, ONGC up by 1.05%, Hindalco up by 0.19% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.18%. On the flip side, Larsen & Toubro down by 5.73%, Interglobe Aviation down by 4.84%, Adani Ports down by 3.22%, JIO Financial down by 3.11% and Maruti Suzuki down by 3.10% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 895.27 points or 1.52% to 57,955.00, Taiwan Weighted lost 234.77 points or 0.66% to 35,179.72, Jakarta Composite plunged 131.77 points or 1.63% to 8,103.72, Hang Seng declined 390.54 points or 1.47% to 26,240.00 and Straits Times fell 95.71 points or 1.92% to 4,899.36. However, Shanghai Composite strengthened 23.08 points or 0.55% to 4,185.96.