Mumbai, 9 May

Stock market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty tumbled in early trade on Friday as tensions soared between India and Pakistan fuelling fears of a wider conflict.

India on Thursday night swiftly thwarted Pakistan's fresh attempts to strike military sites with drones and missiles including in Jammu and Pathankot after foiling similar bids at 15 places in northern and western regions of the country, as tensions soared between the two countries amid fears of a wider conflict.

The Indian armed forces on Wednesday had carried out precise missile strikes on nine terror targets in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Pakistan under ‘Operation Sindoor’.

Extending its previous day's decline, the 30-share BSE benchmark gauge tanked 424.65 points to 79,910.16 in early trade. The NSE Nifty declined 144.75 points to 24,129.05.

"Under normal circumstances, on a day like this, the market would have suffered deep cuts. But this is unlikely due to two reasons. One, the conflict, so far, has demonstrated India’s clear superiority in conventional war fare, and therefore, further escalation of the conflict will inflict huge damage to Pakistan. Two, the market is inherently resilient supported by global and domestic macros. Weak dollar and potentially weakening US and Chinese economies are good for the Indian markets," VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

From the Sensex firms, Power Grid, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, Adani Ports, Bajaj Finserv, Eternal, UltraTech Cement and Nestle were among the laggards.

Larsen & Toubro jumped over 4 per cent after the firm reported a 25 per cent increase in consolidated profit after tax (PAT) to Rs 5,497 crore for the quarter ended on  31 March, supported by higher revenues and an exceptional gain.

Titan Company also climbed more than 4 per cent after the Tata group firm reported a 13 per cent increase in its consolidated profit after tax at Rs 871 crore in the March quarter, driven by robust sales.

Tata Motors, Asian Paints, Kotak Mahindra Bank and State Bank of India were also the gainers.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 2,007.96 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng were quoting lower while Japan's Nikkei 225 index traded higher.

US markets ended in the positive territory on Thursday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.38 per cent to USD 63.08 a barrel.

The BSE Sensex declined by 411.97 points or 0.51 per cent to settle at 80,334.81 on Thursday. The Nifty ended lower by 140.60 points or 0.58 per cent at 24,273.80.