Operation Sindoor: India-Pakistan tensions hit markets, Nifty 50 down 700 points & Sensex falls 500 points

Indian markets opened in the red on Friday amid ongoign tensions with Pakistan as NIFTY 500 fell 700 points and Sensex over 500 points in initial trading.

India responded to Pakistani cross-border aggression throughout the intervening night of Thursday and Friday. Pakistan fired drones and missiles at several places Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, and Punjab. Pakistani ground forces also fired into India from across the Line of Control and International Border.

At the time of the writing of this copy, the Sensex was 600 points down and NIFTY 50 was down 190 points.

Pakistan, however, had a much worse day on Thursday as the nation suffered the worst single-day decline as markets fell by over to 6,000 points.

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Even as the markets fell in India, defence stocks have gained, with Paras Defence up 3.52 per cent, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) up 1.6 per cent, and Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) up 2.28 per cent, Zen Technologies up around 4.99 percent, and Mazgaon Dock also gained around 0.85 per cent, according to Moneycontrol.

As India took out Pakistani drones and missiles launched at major centres like military bases in Jammu, Udhampur, and Pathankot, and at cities like Jaisalmer, the broader Nifty Defence index gained nearly 1.28 per cent.

Vinit Sambre, the Head of Equities at DSP Mutual Fund, told CNBC-TV18 that the movement in defence stocks was on higher order books and order announcements. He said that commentary from corporates currently is not great due to uncertain environments and that defence execution cycles remain long.