Sensex Surges 329 Points, Nifty 50 Closes Shy Of 25,000, IT Emerges Top Sectoral Gainer

Benchmark indices ended in the positive territory on August 25, led by gains in largecap IT stocks. The Sensex surged 329.06 points, or 0.40 per cent, to close at 81,635.91. Likewise, the Nifty 50 gained 97.65 points, or 0.39 per cent, to end at 24,967.75.

Broader market indices ended mixed as Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.12 per cent, while Nifty Smallcap 100 closed flat with minor losses, 0.04 per cent down. The Nifty 500, which represents more than 92 per cent of the free-float market capitalisation of all the NSE-listed stocks, gained 0.26 per cent. The Nifty Microcap 250, which tracks the top 250 most valuable and liquid stocks beyond the Nifty 500 constituents, slipped 0.15 per cent.

Heavyweight IT Stocks Lead Gains

Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and HCL Technology, which carries around a cumulative 62 per cent weight in the Nifty IT index, gained 3.08 per cent, 2.88 per cent, and 2.64 per cent, sending the IT index higher by 2.37 per cent, making it the top sectoral gaining index in today's session. All the constituents in the index ended in green.

Following IT, Nifty Realty gained 0.75 per cent, Nifty Metal rose 0.65 per cent, and Nifty Pharma climbed 0.44 per cent. Nifty Consumer Durables and Nifty Auto also ended the day in green, gaining 0.57 per cent and 0.37 per cent, respectively.

Nifty Media was the top sectoral loser, declining 1.67 per cent. Nifty PSU Bank fell 0.25 per cent, and Nifty FMCG slipped 0.10 per cent.

Nifty Bank ended the session flat with a slight negative bias, down 0.02 per cent at 55,139.30.

Nifty 50 Top Gainers & Losers

From the Nifty 50 index, Infosys, TCS, HCL Tech and Wipro were the top gainers. Hindalco, IndusInd Bank, Coal India, Tech Mahindra, Hero MotoCorp, and Eicher Motors were also among the stocks lending support to the benchmark index.

On the other hand, Adani Enterprises, Apollo Hospitals, Nestle India, Bharat Electronics, SBI Life Insurance Company, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, Jio Financial Services, and Bharti Airtel were the top losers.

Of the total 3,110 stocks traded on the NSE, 1,414 stocks advanced, 1,614 stocks declined, and 82 remained unchanged. Seventy-six stocks touched their new 52-week highs, 35 stocks slipped to their 52-week lows, 114 stocks ended at the upper circuit, and 85 stocks closed at the lower circuit.

At the end of the session, the total market capitalisation of all the NSE-listed stocks were Rs 451.51 lakh crore.

Asian Stocks Rise On US Rate Cut Hopes

Asian stocks finished higher, boosted by US rate cut hopes. The Hong Kong-based Hang Seng jumped 1.94 per cent to 25,829.91, its highest level since October 2021. China's SSE Composite surged 1.51 per cent to 3,883.56, its highest level since August 2015.

Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.41 per cent to 42,807.82, and South Korea's KOSPI advanced 1.30 per cent.

Market Outlook

US Federal Reserve's Chair Jerome Powell's dovish speech at Jackson Hole Symposium rose prospects of a rate cut in the US in Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) upcoming meeting in September 2025. The rate cut hopes led to a decline in bond yields in the US.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury Yields fell nearly 1.70 per cent to quote around 4.27 per cent after Powell's speech.

Lower the yields, higher the flows into equities, especially into emerging markets like India. Historically, rate cut announcements in the US have led to increase in foreign Institutional Investor (FII) inflows into Indian equities.