The Indian markets drowned on Monday, January 13, as the benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty plunged to new lows in the intraday trade.
The BSE Sensex index closed at 76,330.01 after losing 1,048.90 points or 1.36 per cent. The NSE Nifty also dropped in value. The index declined by 345.55 points or 1.47 per cent, taking the overall value to 23,085.95.
The Nifty bank index dropped to 48,041.25 after losing 692.90 points or 1.42 per cent.
The Indian Rupee also suffered colossal losses on the day. The Indian Rupee dropped to as low as 86.57 against the US dollar.
Brent Crude Reaches USD 80
This is the first time in 2025, that the price of crude (in this case, Brent Crude) has crossed the USD 80 a barrel mark.
The price of the benchmark Brent Crude soared to USD 81.26. This price is much higher than the previous closing of USD 79.76 a barrel. As per reports, this marks a rise of over 2 per cent in its prices, the highest this year.
This recent surge has taken the price of crude to the highest point in 4 months. Whe we look a the other benchmark, the WTI or the West Texas Index is also racing towards the USD 80 mark.
This benchmark stands at USD 78.19 per barrel. This again is nearly 2 dollars higher than the previous settlement of USD 76.57.
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Why is This Surge Happening?
This surge comes at a time when Donald Trump is just a week away from being the president of the United States for the second time.
In addition, the surge is also being attributed to the new US sanctions on Russia amid the ongoing Ukraine war, which has been prolonged for over 4 years now.
These new sanctions are designed to prevent Russia from exporting crude oil to import heavy nations like China and India.
India and China have benefitted greatly from the cheap, sanction-induced crude oil. In addition, China has also seen a drop in its total oil import.
China’s import has seen the highest drop in 20 years.
In addition, the OPEC+ oil cartel has also cut its production, adding to the rise in the price of crude.
