Iran war clouds, FII exodus drag Indian markets; IT stocks bleed as crude surges

Markets opened cautiously on Friday, February 20, with both benchmark indices trading in a narrow range after Thursday’s sharp sell-off that wiped out nearly ₹6.79 lakh crore in market capitalisation. The Sensex, which closed at 82,498.14 on Thursday, opened at 82,272.49 and was trading at 82,591.30, up ₹93.16 or 0.11 per cent, as of 10.05 am. The Nifty 50, which had closed at 25,454 on Thursday, down 365 points or 1.41 per cent, opened at around 25,400 and was trading at 25,503.60, up 49.25 points or 0.19 ...