The Impact of War-Related News on Investment Decisions: A Study of Retail Investors’ Perception in Ahmedabad

This research explores the effect of war news on the investment and psychology of retail investors located in Ahmedabad. As the world has become increasingly connected, military conflict news creates ambiguity, turbulence, and elevated investor sentiment. Employing behavioral finance viewpoints, the study explores how retail investors respond to such events. A structured questionnaire was conducted among 170 respondents and emphasized variables such as risk perception, anxiety, stress, and favorite investment channels. Correlation analysis identified that war news does not meaningfully affect investment decision-making, expressing weak and statistically insignificant associations across equity reduction, safe-haven movements, and postponed investments. However, factor analysis identified significant psychological shifts, namely stress, herd behavior, and advisor dependency. Chi-square analysis also demonstrated that there are no significant discrepancies across various age groups in the decision to hold safe-haven assets. The research concludes that whereas finance decisions are robust, psychology perceptions are heavily impacted by war news.