March 30 (Reuters) - Indian shares opened lower on Monday tracking declines across Asia, and were on course for their biggest monthly loss in six years, after oil surged above $114 a barrel as an expanding Middle East war sapped risk appetite.
The Nifty 50 fell 1.18% to 22,549.65 and the BSE Sensex shed 1.38% to 72,565.22 as of 9:15 a.m. IST.
All 16 major sectors logged losses at the open. The broader small-caps and mid-caps dropped 1.2% and 1.3%, respectively.
Asian stocks declined 1.9%. The Brent crude hovered around $114 per barrel and headed for a record monthly rise amid the widening turmoil. [GLOB/MKTS]
The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has entered its fifth week and spread further across the Middle East, with Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis launching attacks on Israel over the weekend and stoking fears of disruptions to shipping lanes around the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea.
The Nifty 50 and Sensex have lost about 10.5% each in March, heading for their worst month since March 2020, due to elevated crude prices and record monthly foreign outflows worth about $12.3 billion.
(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M and Bharath Rajeswaran; Editing by Sumana Nandy and Janane Venkatraman)
