Indian Market: Sensex falls 162.03 pts

The middle-east tensions sent Brent Crude Futures soaring, which further spoiled investors sentiment at D-Street.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) too fell by 55.55 points to 12,226.65.
The Nifty registered days high and low at 12,265.60 and 12,191.31 points respectively.

Registering a huge gain of 320 points on Thursday, the sensex opened steady at 41,634.51, with a marginal gain of 8 points. It immediately dropped nearly 278 points to 41,348.68 day low, before closing at 41,464.61, sliding by 162.03 points from its last close.

The sectoral indices that dragged the market were Auto, Bankex, Capital Goods, Power, FMCG and Finance stocks. In scrips, Asian Paints, Axis Bank, Bajaj Auto and SBI slipped during the day.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index slipped 0.45 pc while the BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.03 per cent.

The market breadth was strong. On BSE, 1248 shares advanced while 1279 shares declined. A total of 187 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 12 stocks advanced and 36 stocks declined while 2 shares remained unchanged.

Shares in Europe and Asia edged lower after Iranian Major-General Qassim Soleimani, head of Tehran's elite Quds Force, was killed early on Friday by a U.S. airstrike on his convoy at Baghdad airport. The United States urged its U.S. citizens to leave Iraq "immediately" after Iran vowed harsh retaliation in the wake of the targeted killing.

Brent crude hit $69.16 a barrel, its highest since 17 September, before easing to $68.94, up $2.69.