The Indian stock market on Monday tanked as it opened for the first time since the conflict in West Asia began on Saturday.
The BSE Sensex ended the day at 80,238.85, which was 1,048.34 points below the previous closing. The Nifty50 index also lost 312.95 points to end the day at 24,865.70.
Investors had lost Rs 8 lakh crore when the market opened before the benchmark indices recovered marginally, according to Mint.
Other major Asian stock indices, including Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index and Japan’s Nikkei, also plunged on Monday morning.
The Indian rupee fell steeply by 42 paise to settle at a provisional figure of 91.50 against the US dollar on Monday, PTI reported.
On Saturday, Israel and the United States launched a joint operation in Iran to “degrade the capabilities” of the Iranian government. Iran retaliated to the attacks and said that the US-Israeli operation had begun while the nuclear negotiations were underway.
The attacks came amid tensions between the three countries over Tehran’s nuclear programme. Israel has been claiming that Iran is “closer than ever” to obtaining a nuclear weapon, which could alter the regional security balance. Washington acts as a guarantor of Israel’s security.
Iran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes.
However, amid fears of a potential attack, with a heavy US military deployment off its coast in recent months, Tehran had been forced to reopen negotiations with Washington about its nuclear programme.
On Sunday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the joint US-Israeli military operation. Tehran vowed revenge and fired missiles at Israel and other countries across the Gulf.
Khamenei, 86, had served as Iran’s supreme leader since 1989. He controlled all branches of the government and the armed forces.
He is considered a significant figure among Muslims from the Shia community.