Israel Financial News

Stock market recap: The Indian equity markets witnessed a significant sell-off on Monday, as Nifty 50 plummeted 422.40 points (1.73%) to close at 24,028.05, while Sensex crashed 1,352.74 points (1.71%) to finish at 77,566.16.The downturn was primarily triggered by escalating geopolitical tensions between the US, Israel, and Iran, which sent Brent crude prices soaring above $114 per barrel. This energy shock, coupled with the Indian rupee hitting a record low of 92.35, sparked broad-based risk aversion.The advance-decline ratio was heavily skewed toward the bears, with over four stocks declining for every one that advanced, reflecting deep-seated weakness across the broader market.On the sectoral front, Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Auto were the worst laggards, with heavyweights like SBI and Tata Motors facing intense pressure.

crude oil was trading at a $6.86 per barrel discount to the May contract of $104.53 at the time of writing. On 27 February, a day before the war began, it was just the opposite: the June contract was at a slight premium of 39 cents to the May contract, which quoted at $72.48, as per Bloomberg.Such flipping of discounts between near and far months—backwardation or inversion in technical parlance—points to supply disruptions due to the West Asia war.

Iran’s strategy in its war with the US and Israel is clear: Impose an intolerable economic cost on US President Donald Trump, forcing him to abandon his ‘war of choice’ as American petrol prices surge. Is there any way the Islamic Republic’s blueprint for survival can fail? Yes, if its old regional nemesis, Saudi Arabia, can step in to cushion the global oil market.Enter the East-West pipeline, a 1,200km conduit crisscrossing the Arabian Peninsula from the Gulf to the Red Sea. Its raison d’être is to meet this historic moment.

"Khamenei Out.” That was the title of an event wager on the prediction market Kalshi. On the website of its rival, Polymarket, wagers were being made on “the timing of the Iran war” just before it began. Posts by Bubblemaps, a blockchain analytics tool, on X indicate that six accounts collectively pocketed $1.2 million in profit from Polymarket bets.

A subtle twist in the tale: The strength of the US dollar as measured by the Dollar Index (DXY) peaked at 114 in September 2022, a 20-year high. It has been falling since then, hitting 97 on 28 February 2026, the start of the Iran war. DXY measures the dollar’s strength against a basket of currencies.

Every month, Mint Plain Facts brings out an update on key global data to thread together the biggest developments in the world that are worth paying attention to. The accompanying analysis and charts explain how each story is creating ripples on the global stage, where it is headed in the coming weeks, and whether it can impact India.Here are the five key global events:After US and Israel air strikes on 28 February killed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the West Asian nation has been fighting a high-risk survival war.It has responded to the US-Israel offensive, mostly targeting its capital, Tehran, by attacking nearly all nearby Gulf countries, widening the conflict.

If you thought 2025 was a tough transition, 2026 now seems to have plenty more surprises in store. India, in particular, has to trek through two tricky minefields over the next 10 months: energy security and technological flux. These two prickly issues will have to fight for the political leadership’s mind-space, cluttered as it is with tricky geopolitics, rising unemployment, sticky economic growth and an always-on electoral cycle.

In international relations, manifestly illegal government action can sometimes be morally defensible. While historical examples of legitimacy trumping legality are few and far between, they do exist.

Write to Ian Salisbury at [email protected] U.S.-Israel war against Iran that began on Feb. 28 has investors worried about broader fallout. On Friday, oil prices hit a psychologically important $90 a barrel for the first time in two years as Kuwait cut output.

This week the focus is on the widening war in West Asia, which matters to us as there are 9-10 million Indian expatriates in the region.It’s now day 7 of Operation Epic Fury, launched jointly by the US and Israel on 28 February. It’s what we were all warned about for years, perhaps even decades – a conflagration in West Asia. As it stood, Iran was at its weakest in decades and Israel perhaps saw it as too good an opportunity to pass up.

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From stranded shipping vessels near Strait of Hormuz amid the West Asia conflict, to the change in sectoral share due to revision in GDP base year, manufacturing and services activity moving in different directions in February, collections in goods and services tax (GST) signalling a post-cut recovery, and the government’s renewed push to faster adoption of electric vehicles, here’s a compilation of this week’s news in numbers.The US-Israel-Iran conflict is threatening to put the global order in chaos, particularly for the flow of gas and oil. At its core is the Strait of Hormuz—a narrow chokepoint through which over a quarter of global oil trade passes—where Iran holds strategic control.According to Kpler's analysis of 223 container vessels between 28 February and 4 March, at least 37 were unable to exit the Gulf, meaning they cannot resume rotations until transit reopens.

Mumbai: The Indian stock markets slumped to their weakest weekly performance in 14 months, after conflict erupted in the Middle East between the US, Israel and Iran on 28 February.Benchmark indices NSE Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex dropped nearly 3% through the week, marking their steepest decline since the week ended 22 December 2024, when markets had corrected over 4% amid concerns over the US Federal Reserve’s hawkish stance and rising bond yields.On Friday, the Nifty 50 fell 1.27% to close at 24,450.45, while the Sensex declined 1.37% to end at 78,918.88, extending their decline following the prior session’s relief rally.Rising crude oil prices and continued selling by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) weighed on sentiment. Currency weakness added further pressure, with the rupee hitting a record low of 92.1488 against the US dollar on 4 March (Wednesday).Market volatility also spiked during the week, with the India VIX (Volatility Index)—a measure of the market’s expectation of volatility in the Indian stock market over the next 30 days—rising from 13.70 to 19.88, signalling heightened investor nervousness and expectations of larger market swings ahead.To be sure, Indian equities’ fall was milder than several Asian markets.

Could India be returning to Russia for oil supplies? Going by a Bloomberg report, it seems so. Two shipments of Russian crude oil that were originally headed for East Asia have reportedly been redirected towards India and are expected to unload this week, with one already having reached Paradip.

West Asia conflict could ease.The benchmark Nifty50 index recovered close to half of its recent losses in the last hour on Thursday, as reports emerged that Iran had reached out to the US for talks to end the war, improving risk appetite. The news coincided with the weekly expiry of Sensex options on Thursday, which also forced the traders to square off their positions in panic.The US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran on Saturday that killed its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, triggering retaliation and fuelling a wider regional conflict in West Asia, dragging stock markets around the world lower.Over two trading sessions starting Monday, the Nifty50 had fallen 695 points, of which 285 points—about 41%—were recouped on Thursday.

Write to Benoit Faucon at [email protected], Margherita Stancati at [email protected] and Dov Lieber at [email protected] all the Business News, Market News, Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint.

Those who view President Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran as a blow to China should think again. Beijing will manage any potential leadership change in Tehran as long as the oil keeps flowing, a summit with Trump and President Xi Jinping stays on track, and Washington handles Taiwan—China’s most sensitive red line—with care. Xi’s strategy is closer to the ancient Chinese phrase that notes the benefit of sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight: conserve strength while others exhaust themselves, and intervene only if core interests are directly threatened.Beijing doesn’t think of alliances the way the US does.

Past conflicts in the Middle East typically hit India at the gas station. This time, the risks transcend oil, threatening everything from smartphone exports to New Delhi’s fragile finances.Flames have reached the United Arab Emirates, India’s second-largest electronics export destination after the US. Beyond being an entrepôt for regional trade, Dubai and Abu Dhabi are wealth hubs for the Indian elite.

The market’s reaction to the joint US-Israel strikes on Iran wasn't exactly subtle. The war is choking the Strait of Hormuz, hurting tanker flows and causing oil markets to react. Brent crude price is now at $78 a barrel.Back home, the benchmark Nifty 50 index fell by 1.2% on Monday, while shares of state-run Indian oil marketing companies (OMCs) were down around 4%.

Mint explores the best- and worst-case scenarios.On Monday the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a branch of Iran’s armed forces, announced that the Strait of Hormuz was closed and attacked a few ships passing through it. The announcement quickly caused panic.

The American-Israeli attack on Iran raises a number of vital questions for India and the rest of the world, delving into which is necessary to make the best of a bad situation. The prices of oil and liquefied natural gas have begun to rise as Iran attempts to choke the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one in every fourth barrel of all seaborne crude oil moves. If this grip lasts, it will make energy imports dearer, weaken the rupee and give inflation a cost-push.