Investors flee shares on widening war fear
Live MintInvestors offloaded shares Monday on concerns about the economic fallout from the Israel-Hamas conflict. Though retail figures aren’t available, the sharper 1.3-1.6% fall in the Nifty Midcap 150 and the Nifty Smallcap 250 indices suggests significant selling by retail as the provisional purchase of ₹2,661.67 crore by domestic institutional investors, including mutual funds, couldn’t stave off the market fall. “From the global equity market perspective, the issue right now is whether the conflict remains localized or draws in more players, which could have repercussions.” The conflict in West Asia has raised worries about a further rise in crude oil prices, with serious implications for net oil importers such as India as a bigger oil import bill could weigh on the current account deficit, put downward pressure on the rupee and add inflationary pressure in an election season. That could also pressure the government to spend more on energy subsidies, cut excise duty on petrol and diesel sold in India at international ‘parity prices’, or let fuel retailers like Indian Oil Corp. take a hit on their books. Andrew Holland, chief executive of Avendus Capital Public Markets Alternate Strategies, said, “There could be a flight to safety initially, that is, to the dollar, and higher oil prices.