Sensex falls by 262 points, oil marketing firms worst hit after Saudi attack

Equity benchmark indices extended declines in the afternoon session to close with a negative bias on Monday as global oil prices surged to four-month highs after a strike on the world's biggest oil facility in Saudi Arabia removed about 5 per cent of global supplies.

The BSE S & P Sensex closed 262 points or 0.7 per cent lower at 37,123 while the Nifty 50 edged down by 72 points to 11,004. Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty PSU bank down by 1.28 per cent.

Nifty realty lost by 0.9 per cent despite Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing measures on Saturday to revive the housing sector, as the government tries to kick-start an economy hit by a lending crisis and a slowdown in demand.

Nifty auto, financial services, metal, and bank were also in the negative zone while FMCG, IT, media and pharma showed some gains.

Among stocks, oil processing and marketing firms suffered the most as the United States blamed Iran for the weekend attack on Saudi Arabia's crude oil facilities.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation dropped by 7.3 per cent to close the day at Rs 378.80 per share while IndiaOil Corporation was down by 1.1 per cent to Rs 128.55 apiece. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries slipped by 1.2 per cent.

A possible flare-up in oil prices after the drone attacks in Saudi Arabia could have a negative impact as India imports nearly 80 per cent of its oil requirement. An increase in crude prices may put further pressure on the rupee, which has dropped by 2 per cent in the past three months.

The other prominent losers were State Bank of India, Yes Bank, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Tata Steel and Mahindra & Mahindra.

However, Titan, Britannia, Tech Mahindra, ONGC and Coal India showed marginal gains.

Meanwhile, moves in Asian share markets were small with Japan shut for a public holiday. South Korea's KOSPI was a tad higher by 0.6 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down by 0.8 per cent.

The Shanghai Composite Index dropped by 0.02 per cent as data showed that industrial production in August was at its weakest in more than 17 years amid spreading pain from a trade war with the United States and softening domestic demand.