The BSE Sensex was down by 0.87 per cent, or 648.24 points, to 73,596, while the NSE Nifty was at 22,325, down by 0.86 per cent, or 223 points.

A total of 3,956 stocks were actively traded, 861 advanced, while 2,956 declined, and 139 stocks remained unchanged, where 148 stocks hit a 52-week high and 26 stocks hit a 52-week low at 1.10 pm on Monday.

VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said, “There are many headwinds that will weigh on markets today: the renewed conflict in the Middle East, proposed changes in the India-Mauritius tax treaty, and the hotter-than-expected US inflation are negatives.

These negatives are partly in the price since a retaliation from Iran was expected, and the market discounted the higher US inflation on Friday. Signals from the crude market indicate that the Iran-Israel conflict is unlikely to escalate. President Biden has clearly indicated that he doesn’t support Israeli retaliation, so the situation may calm down. However, investors must be guarded since uncertainty is high during a tense situation like this.

IT stocks will be resilient due to better-than-expected numbers from TCS and promising outlook for FY 25. Banking stocks will exhibit strength since the results will be good and valuations are fair.”

Major gainers on the NSE at noon include ONGC (4.97%), Hindalco (3.59%), Nestle India (1.03%), Reliance (0.90%), and NTPC (0.37%).

Major losers include Shriram Finance (-2.22%), Tata Consumers (-2.11%), ICICI Bank (-1.99%), Adani Enterprises (-1.82%), and Hindustan Unilever (-1.72%).

BSE Smallcap was down by 0.94%, and Midcap was down by 1.01%