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13-03-2026
Bureau Report + Agencies
NEW DELHI: Indian shares settled higher on Tuesday, climbing from their lowest levels in nearly a year, as crude oil prices eased in a relief rally enabled by comments from US President Donald Trump read by market participants’ as de-escalatory.
The benchmark indexes had posted their sharpest fall in a month on Monday, with the volatility index surging to a 21-month high after crude oil cleared $100 a barrel. Higher crude oil prices are a key risk for net energy importer India.
“Today’s market is just reflecting what is happening on the crude side and the global risk-off sentiment taking a backseat temporarily,” said Aishvarya Dadheech, founder and chief investment officer at Fident Asset Management.
“However, we will only see a major relief rally in the Indian market when crude goes down to $70 or below and that will only happen when we have more clarity on the outcome of the war,” Dadheech said.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday they would not let any oil out of the Middle East until US and Israeli attacks cease, prompting US President Donald Trump to threaten to hit Iran “twenty times harder” if it blocked exports.
Brent futures were down 9.1% at $89.98 a barrel on Tuesday.
Fourteen of the 16 major sectors registered gains. The broader small-caps and midcaps rose 2.1% and 1.6%, respectively.
Top lenders and index heavyweights HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank powered index gains on the day, climbing 1% and 2.6%, respectively, after falling about 3% in the prior session. The rupee also rose 0.57% to 91.8050 per US dollar, while government bonds gained, with the benchmark 10-year yield falling more than 5 basis points. The drop in oil prices also drove paint stocks and airline stocks higher as crude is a major raw material for both industries. Budget carrier IndiGo gained 3.5%, while Asian Paints rose 3.3%. They fell 3.8% and 2.6%, respectively, on Monday. Among individual stocks, Dixon Technologies jumped 11.3% on securing government approval for a joint venture with a Chinese firm.
Dr Reddy’s Laboratories gained 2.1% after media reports said the Delhi High Court cleared the company to manufacture generic semaglutide for export.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday they would not let any oil out of the Middle East until US and Israeli attacks cease, prompting US President Donald Trump to threaten to hit Iran “twenty times harder” if it blocked exports.
Despite the defiant rhetoric from both sides, investors placed strong bets on Tuesday that Trump would call off his war soon, before the unprecedented disruption it has caused to energy supplies causes a global economic meltdown.
After he described the war as “very complete, pretty much”, the bulk of Monday’s historic surge in crude oil prices was reversed. Asian and European share prices staged a recovery on Tuesday from earlier precipitous falls but on the ground, there was no sign of any letup. Tehran residents reached by media described intense US-Israeli bombardment of the capital overnight as the fiercest of the war.
“It was like hell. They were bombing everywhere, every part of Tehran,” a resident said by phone, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “My children are afraid to sleep now. We have nowhere to go.”
Israel’s military said it had hit a weapons research-and-development target in Tehran, among a wave of overnight strikes on the capital, and launched more strikes later on Tuesday.
A source familiar with Israel’s war plans told media the Israeli military was trying to inflict as much damage as possible before the window for further strikes closes, under the assumption Trump could end the war at any time.
