India's benchmark stock market indices opened sharply lower on Thursday, tracking global cues as mounting tensions in the Middle East made investors wary of taking risks.

The BSE Sensex opened at 83,002.09 and further dropped to 83,423.41, down by 842.88 points or 1.00% as of 10:11 AM while the Nifty 50 opened at 25,452.85 and was trading down 241 points or 0.93%.

In the broader market on Nifty, most segments were in deep red with indices across the segments losing more than 0.75% in early trading. The volatility gauge meter Nifty Vix was at 4.96% indicating the fear in risk taking.

In sectoral performance, except metals (up 0.34%) all sectors were trading negative with Nifty auto, bank, financial services, health care and oil and gas losing over 1% while realty shares taking the biggest blow with 2.43% decline.

Among the top gainers on Thursday, JSW Steel saw a rise of 2.56%, trading at ₹1,053.55, while ONGC increased by 1.46% to ₹296.20. Grasim and UltraTech Cement followed with gains of 0.94% and 0.51%, trading at ₹2,827.35 and ₹11,897.95, respectively. Tata Steel also posted a modest gain of 0.79%, reaching ₹168.35, with a significant surge in trading volume, recording 2,60,91,303 shares traded.

On the losing side, Eicher Motors dropped by 3.67%, trading at ₹4,790.20, while BPCL fell by 3.27% to ₹356.20. Shriram Finance and Asian Paints followed with declines of 2.84% and 2.53%, trading at ₹3,469 and ₹3,194.35, respectively. Tata Motors also saw a dip of 2.02%, reaching ₹945.75, with a significant trading volume of 61,85,211 shares exchanged.

Geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East has raised concerns about global economic stability, leading to caution in financial markets. Recent ballistic missile attacks by Iran on Israel have heightened tensions, raising fears of possible disruptions in oil supplies from the region. Crude oil prices have surged following the attacks, which could negatively impact economies like India that heavily rely on oil imports. On Thursday, Brent Crude was up 1.15%, while WTI Crude rose over 1.23%.

All three major Wall Street indices closed flat overnight and while Asian markets traded mixed.The Dow and the Nasdaq Composite Index closed 0.09% and 0.08%, respectively while the S&P 500 ended the session up 0.01%. Japan's Nikkie surged over 2% while Hongkong's Hangseng slumped over 3.12%.