Updates for morning trade
By Bharath Rajeswaran
June 13 (Reuters) - Indian shares declined on Friday, led by oil and gas stocks, as Israel's military strikes on Iran deepened tensions in the oil-rich Middle East and triggered a broad-based selloff across markets.
The Nifty 50 .NSEI fell 1.21% to 24,586.7 and the BSE Sensex .BSESN slid 1.2% to 80,710.56, as of 9:35 a.m. IST.
All 13 sectors logged losses. The broader, more domestically focussed smallcaps .NIFSMCP100 and midcaps .NIFMDCP100 shed 1.2% each.
The MSCI Asia ex-Japan index .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 1%, while safe havens like gold and the Swiss franc gained and oil prices LCOc1 surged 9% amid fears of a supply disruption. MKTS/GLOB O/R
Israel said it struck Iranian nuclear targets to block Tehran from developing atomic weapons. The U.S. has ruled out any involvement in the strikes against Iran.
The oil and gas index .NIFOILGAS lost 1.5% while the energy index .NIFTYENR shed 1.3%.
Oil marketing companies such as BPCL BPCL.NS, HPCL HPCL.NS and Indian Oil Corp IOC.NS fell 3.5% each, as surging crude prices raised concerns over a potential squeeze in refining margins.
Airline operators Interglobe Aviation INGL.NS and SpiceJet SPJT.BO lost about 4% each after an Air India plane crashed in the city of Ahmedabad on Thursday, killing nearly all of the 242 people on board, in the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade.
"Heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and the Air India plane accident have dampened market sentiment, triggering the sharp fall," said Devarsh Vakil, head of prime research at HDFC Securities.
($1 = 85.5530 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Mrigank Dhaniwala)
((bharath.rajeswaran@thomsonreuters.com; +91 9769003463;))
