Sensex crashes over 1,500 pts in opening deals on geopolitical worries
Mumbai(PTI): The BSE gauge Sensex tanked over 1,500 points to crack below the 57,000-mark and the NSE Nifty slipped below the 17,000-level in the opening session on Monday, amid heightened tension over the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The 30-share Sensex nosedived 1,540.85 points to 56,612.07 in early deals and the broader Nifty plummeted 458.20 points to 16,916.55.
On the Sensex chart, all 30 shares were trading with steep to moderate losses -- with SBI, Tata Steel and IndusInd Bank tumbling over 4 per cent.
Elsewhere in Asia, bourses were trading in deep red, after concerns that Russia may soon invade Ukraine, which sent oil prices soaring.
Analysts said that domestic markets opened sharply lower in line with negative Asian markets as also sharply lower US equities.
Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, said, "US stocks closed sharply lower on Friday as heightened concern that Russia may soon invade Ukraine sent oil prices spiking and investors to dump risky assets like equities."
Investors also weighed a sharp drop in consumer sentiment and a pickup in near-term inflation expectations, he added.
Global crude oil benchmark Brent Futures spiked over 1 per cent to USD 95.44 per barrel on Monday.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital market on Friday, as they bought shares worth Rs 108.53 crore, according to stock exchange data.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
