The latest jump in oil prices has disturbed Indian equities, with both major indices starting the week with losses and 12 out of India’s 16 sectors booking losses, Reuters reported earlier in the day.
With Brent crude trading at over $114 per barrel, it is not hard to see why investor sentiment in the world’s third-largest importer of crude is not exactly optimistic, pushing Sensex down by 0.46 today, and Nifty 50 down by 0.5. IT stocks specifically shed 1.1%, the report said.
“Concerns over supply disruptions due to escalating Mideast tensions pushed crude oil prices higher,” Equinomic Research founder and head of research G Chokkalingam told Reuters.
“Domestic equities are likely to remain highly volatile, with a short-term downward bias and unless the Mideast conflict is resolved meaningfully, higher energy costs could reignite global inflation, restrain economic growth and darken the outlook for stock markets worldwide.”
Despite continued disruptions, India’s imports of Middle Eastern crude climbed to 2.8 million barrels per day in September, lifting the region’s share of total imports to 54%, up from 32% in August.
That increase was driven by Indian refiners buying a growing number of spot cargoes as the Gulf producers have managed to sneak out increasingly higher crude volumes through the Strait of Hormuz via ship-to-ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman.
Russia remained the single largest crude oil supplier to India in September, but the imports of Russian oil fell by 14% from August to 1.8 million bpd last month. The share of Russian oil in India’s oil imports also dropped to 33.5% from 46.6% in August.
The impact of the war on Indian investor sentiment will likely extend into next year as the U.S. and Iran remain as far apart on peace deal conditions as ever, with neither side willing to make concessions.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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