Indian equity benchmarks witnessed a brutal bloodbath on Thursday, with both the Nifty and Sensex crashing over 3%, amid rising crude oil prices and escalating geopolitical tensions after Iran struck Middle East energy facilities in retaliation for an Israeli attack on the South Pars gas field. Markets made a gap-down opening and remained under intense selling pressure throughout the session, with broad-based sell-off across the sectors. Investor sentiments were further dampened by continued foreign fund outflows, as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 2,714.35 crore on Wednesday, marking their 14th consecutive day of selling.

Some of the important factors in trade:

Fresh slippages in banking sector likely to rise in the near term: Cautiousness came as a report by ICRA and ASSOCHAM said fresh slippages in the banking sector are expected to rise in the near term due to emerging stress in the retail and MSME segments, even as overall asset quality remains strong.

India’s outward FDI falls to $2.76 Billion in February 2026: Traders remained cautious as data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed India’s outward foreign direct investment (FDI) declined to $2.76 billion in February 2026 from $4.30 billion in the same month last year. 

Net direct tax collection grows 7.1% to Rs 22.8 lakh crore till March 17 in FY26: Traders overlooked report that the Income Tax Department data showed net direct tax collection grew 7.1% to about Rs 22.8 lakh crore till March 17 in this fiscal (FY26), driven by slower refunds and higher corporate tax collections.

On the global front: European equity markets traded in the red following attacks by Iran on energy facilities in the Middle East, including the crucial South Pars gas field. Asian markets ended in the red, following negative cues from the US markets overnight.

The BSE Sensex ended at 74207.24, down by 2496.89 points or 3.26% after trading in a range of 73950.95 and 75354.18. All 30 stocks were declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto down by 4.07%, Realty down by 3.79%, Consumer Disc down by 3.62%, Industrials down by 3.49%, and IT down by 3.41%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE. (Provisional)

The top losers on the Sensex were Eternal down by 5.65%, Bajaj Finance down by 5.42%, HDFC Bank down by 5.13%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 4.86% and Larsen & Toubro down by 4.72%, while there were no gainers on the Sensex. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, amid the current and evolving liquidity conditions of the banking system, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is all set to inject Rs 75,000 crore worth of liquidity in the banking system. It will conduct a three-day variable rate repo (VRR) auction on March 20.

Currently, the banking system is estimated to have liquidity surplus of around Rs 81,963.69 crore. Besides, on March 17, the RBI injected Rs 48,014 crore of transient liquidity into the banking system through a seven-day VRR auction

Before this, RBI had infused Rs 3.50 lakh crore durable liquidity into the banking system through open market purchase (OMO) of government securities. The RBI has been infusing heavy liquidity into the banking system in the last few months in order to keep overnight rates under check.

The CNX Nifty ended at 23002.15, down by 775.65 points or 3.26% after trading in a range of 22930.35 and 23378.70. There was 1 stock advancing against 49 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The only gainer on Nifty was ONGC up by 1.55%, while Shriram Finance down by 7.03%, Eternal down by 5.69%, Bajaj Finance down by 5.44%, HDFC Bank down by 5.32% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 5.26% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading lower; Germany’s DAX lost 505.55 points or 2.15% to 22,996.70, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 191.7 points or 1.86% to 10,113.59 and France’s CAC fell 129.38 points or 1.62% to 7,840.50.

Asian markets settled lower on Thursday tracking Wall Steet’s fall overnight as rising oil prices following attacks on key energy infrastructure in the Middle East rekindled inflation concerns. Hotter-than-expected US producer prices and the US Fed's higher inflation projections have significantly diminished market expectations for near-term interest rate cuts. Japanese shares declined after the Bank of Japan kept its policy rate unchanged at 0.75%, as widely expected. Although, Bank of Japan policy board member Hajime Takata has repeatedly called for interest rate hikes to prevent an inflation overshoot. However, China is considering releasing its significant strategic oil reserves to ease the impact of Middle East disruptions, with refiners expected to process up to 1 million barrels per day over the next 4 to 6 weeks. Indonesian market was closed for Hindu Saka New Year holidays and will resume on March 25.