Indian rupee falls to historic low at 96.35 against US dollar; Sensex crashed over 1,000 points

The Indian rupee experienced an intense session of depreciation on Monday, hitting a historic provisional close of 96.35 against the US dollar. The local currency faced multi-pronged external strain, opening low at 96.19 at the interbank foreign exchange market before hitting a weak intraday bottom of 96.39. Forex traders noted that an escalating geopolitical conflict involving the United States and Iran has sparked extreme risk aversion across emerging markets, keeping the greenback dominant and prompting heavy foreign fund outflows from Indian equities.

The continuous bleeding of the rupee heavily shook domestic investor sentiment early in the morning, triggering a brutal broad-based selloff on Dalal Street. Panic peaked following reports of a strategic drone strike targeting the UAE's Barakah nuclear power installation, an incident that immediately amplified fears of systemic crude supply blockades in West Asia. Responding to the structural shock, benchmark equity indices crashed vertically, with the BSE Sensex hemorrhaging over 1,057 points to touch an intraday low of 74,180, while the NSE Nifty 50 breached its critical support lines to trade below the 23,350 mark.

Despite the massive early-morning capitulation that wiped out approximately ₹7 lakh crore in investor wealth, the afternoon session witnessed a stunning counter-offensive by market bulls. Sustained institutional value-buying across large-cap information technology and banking shares helped benchmark indices systematically erase the entirety of their intraday losses. Staging a massive recovery of 1,100 points from its lowest point, the 30-share Sensex clawed its way back into positive territory to finish up at 75,315, while the Nifty 50 wrapped up flat at 23,650.