Indian stock markets fell on Tuesday, while oil prices declined on news of mediation efforts between the US and Iran. On July 21, Indian stock markets closed down for the second consecutive day and Nifty remained below the level of 24,200. Sensex fell 238.41 points (0.31%) to 77,470.11 and Nifty fell 50.80 points (0.21%) to 24,187.70. About 2,087 shares advanced, 1,942 declined and 180 shares were unchanged.
**Shares with biggest rise and fall**
The biggest fallers in the Nifty included HDFC Bank, Infosys, Reliance Industries, SBI and TCS, while the top gainers included Shriram Finance, Bajaj Finserv, InterGlobe Aviation, Eicher Motors and UltraTech Cement.
**Sector wise index**
Sector wise, FMCG, IT, Oil & Gas and PSU Bank sectors declined by 0.5%, while Auto, Metal and Realty sectors gained 0.5%. Performance of different sectors was mixed; Nifty Chemicals, Nifty Cement and Nifty Realty indices gained more than 1% each.
Nifty Metal and Nifty Pharma indices also closed with gains. In contrast, the Nifty PSU Bank index declined the most; It fell 0.88% and gave up part of its recent gains. Nifty IT index closed down 0.61%, while Nifty Oil & Gas, Nifty Consumer Durables and Nifty FMCG indices were also among the major sectors in decline.
US-Iran conflict
Attacks by the US increased in Middle East Asia for the tenth consecutive day after US President Donald Trump promised that Iran would “pay a price” for the deaths of US troops. Tehran launched missile and drone attacks targeting Kuwait, leading to geopolitical tensions.