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Shares of Indian infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro dropped more than 7% to a one-month low on Wednesday, over worries that the escalating Middle East war could disrupt the company's projects in the region.
It led losses on the benchmark Nifty 50, which was down around 2%. L&T has exposure to the Middle East through its hydrocarbon, infrastructure and energy engineering businesses, with the region contributing a large share of its international order book.
The construction and engineering firm, which fell about 5% on Monday, was down as much as 7.5% at 3,760 rupees on Wednesday after trading resumed following a local market holiday on Tuesday.
"The Gulf conflict could impact L&T execution in terms of physical damage to its ongoing infrastructure and hydrocarbon sites, including cancellation of projects and further supply chain cost due to the impact of geopolitical and freight delays," Macquarie said in a note. The conflict, which began on February 28, has rattled global markets and hit oil production and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and Oman, which carries around one-fifth of the world's oil. "Middle East accounts for 33–35% of L&T's inflows, backlog and revenue, and potential blockade of the Strait of Hormuz for March could shave 1.8% off the consolidated earnings per share," CLSA said.
Analysts at Axis Capital warned that project execution could be impacted if the crisis were prolonged.
However, some analysts also said that the pullback presents a buying opportunity as long-term prospects remain intact.
L&T is rated "buy" on average by 30 analysts, with a median price target of 4,800 rupees, according to LSEG data.
(Reporting by Brijesh Patel, writing by Chandini Monnappa in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Harikrishnan Nair)



















