Sensex tumbles 1,000 points, Nifty cracks 22,300 in afternoon selloff | Business News

Indian equity benchmark indices fell sharply in afternoon trade on Thursday, with the Sensex and Nifty extending losses as persistent foreign fund outflows and uncertainty over the Iran war weighed on investor sentiment.The BSE Sensex was down 1,012 points, or 1.35%, at 71,500.60 as of 1:52 pm IST. The NSE Nifty was trading at 22,282.35, down 338.10 points, or 1.49%.The sharp afternoon decline came after both benchmarks had opened lower earlier in the day. The Nifty 50 had opened down 0.34% at 22,543.70, while the Sensex opened 0.40% lower at 72,192.89.The two indices have now lost about 3.7% and 3.2%, respectively, this week, putting them on course for an eighth consecutive weekly decline, their longest such losing streak in 25 years. Indian markets will remain closed on Friday for a local holiday.Foreign outflows weighForeign investors sold Indian shares worth ₹10,148 crore ($1.06 billion) on Wednesday, according to provisional data. They have offloaded about $3.6 billion in the previous five sessions, taking their year-to-date selling to $27.8 billion.The sustained foreign selling has added to pressure on Indian equities amid heightened uncertainty over the Iran war, crude oil prices and global interest rates.Iran war, crude oil in focusBrent crude futures slipped to around $98 a barrel after Tehran said it had received Washington's response to its latest ceasefire proposal. Days earlier, US President Donald Trump had said he rejected the proposal.Oil prices have swung sharply in recent months amid uncertainty over when the war with Iran will allow crude supplies to return to normal.Iranian officials said on Wednesday they had received an official US response to Tehran's latest proposal to end the seven-month war. They did not disclose the contents of the response or say whether it amounted to a rejection.Trump had publicly rejected an earlier Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within a week if the US met certain conditions.Global market cuesAsian shares mostly rose in early Thursday trading, supported by investor interest in technology-related stocks despite continued concerns over the Iran war.Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 2.4% in morning trading, while South Korea's Kospi edged up 0.5%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.4% and the Shanghai Composite gained 0.3%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200, however, fell 1.7%.US stocks mostly fell on Wednesday. The S&P 500 declined 0.3%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.9%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.2%.US inflation was lower than economists had expected in August, with consumer prices rising 3.4% from a year earlier, below the 3.7% increase economists had forecast. However, inflation remained above the Federal Reserve's 2% target.In energy trading, US crude fell 0.56% to $89.91 a barrel, while Brent crude declined 0.35% to $97.69.The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 5.29%, while the 30-year Treasury yield climbed to 5.64%.