Indian stock markets closed lower on Thursday as escalating geopolitical tensions between India and Pakistan dampened investor sentiment.
The day began on a positive note, but a sharp sell-off during the final hour of trade pulled the key indices into negative territory.
By the close of trade, the&nbsp;Sensex declined by 411 points, or&nbsp;0.51%, ending the day at&nbsp;80,334.
The&nbsp;Nifty&nbsp;opened flat at&nbsp;24,431, briefly touching an intra-day high of&nbsp;24,447. However, during the last hour of trading, the index experienced a steep fall, hitting a low of&nbsp;24,313&nbsp;before closing at&nbsp;24,273, down&nbsp;0.51%, slipping below the&nbsp;24,300mark.
The downturn followed the Indian government&rsquo;s confirmation that&nbsp;armed forces had carried out strikes on air defence radars and systems&nbsp;at multiple locations in Pakistan.
This escalation came in the wake of India&rsquo;s targeted strikes on nine terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) early on Wednesday, as part of a mission named&nbsp;&lsquo;Operation Sindoor&rsquo;.
The heightened military action triggered caution among investors, resulting in a broad-based pullback in equities.
Further pressure came from&nbsp;hawkish comments by the US Federal Reserve, which raised concerns about rising inflation and unemployment risks, unsettling global market sentiment.
Kotak Mahindra Bank&nbsp;led the gainers on the Sensex with a rise of&nbsp;0.81%, followed by&nbsp;Axis Bank&nbsp;at&nbsp;0.7%,&nbsp;Titan&nbsp;at&nbsp;0.69%, and gains from&nbsp;HCL Tech,&nbsp;Tata Motors, and others.
Mid- and small-cap stocks, typically more volatile, suffered sharper losses. The&nbsp;Nifty Midcap 100&nbsp;index dropped&nbsp;2.16%, while the&nbsp;Nifty Smallcap 100&nbsp;fell&nbsp;1.6%, highlighting broader market weakness.
While India&rsquo;s markets experienced a moderate decline, the situation was significantly more severe in Pakistan. The&nbsp;KSE-100 index plunged 6%, prompting a trading halt on the Pakistan Stock Exchange to prevent panic.
With geopolitical tensions intensifying and global uncertainties looming,&nbsp;market experts expect elevated volatility&nbsp;in the near term.
---IANS

Geopolitical escalation and Fed remarks trigger sharp decline in Indian equity benchmarks

Markets fall as India-Pakistan tensions flare

Geopolitical escalation and Fed remarks trigger sharp decline in Indian equity benchmarks

May 8, 2025 | 16:35 IST