Sensex Closes Unchanged, Nifty Holds 24,600 Amid A Volatile Trade

Domestic equity benchmark indices closed flat-to-negative after a volatile trade, extending their losing streak for the seventh consecutive session on September 29. The BSE Sensex closed 61.52 points, or 0.08 per cent, lower at 80,364.94. The NSE Nifty 50 settled 19.80 points, or 0.08 per cent, down at 24,634.90.

Mirroring the benchmarks, broader market indices also closed broadly on a flat note. The Nifty Smallcap 100 ended 0.07 per cent lower. Nifty 500 closed 0.11 percent higher, while the Nifty Midcap 100 ended outperformed, rising 0.27 per cent. Nifty Next 50 also rose 1.03 per cent.

PSU Banks, Oil & Gas, Realty Lead, Private Banks, Auto, Pharma Weigh

On the sectoral front, Nifty PSU Bank led the charge, rising 1.78 per cent, followed by Nifty Oil & Gas, which climbed 1.35 per cent and Nifty Realty, which rose 0.88 per cent. Nifty Energy and Nifty Metal advanced 0.69 per cent and 0.35 per cent, respectively. Nifty Bank, Nifty FMCG, Nifty and Nifty Financial Services also closed in green.

On the other hand, Nifty Private Bank, Nifty Auto, Nifty Pharma, Nifty Media and Nifty Consumer Durables closed in red. Nifty IT remained at around unchanged levels.

Nifty 50 Top Gainers & Losers

IndusInd Bank jumped 3.07 per cent to emerge as the top gainer in Nifty 50. Following it, Titan rose 2.70 per cent, Hindalco climbed 1.65 per cent, State Bank of India (SBI) advanced 1.55 per cent, and Wipro surged 1.55 per cent. NTPC, Shriram Finance, Trent, Eternal (formerly Zomato), Bharat Electronics, Tata Steel, Mahindra & Mahindra, were also among the top gainers, rising between 1 per cent and 1.5 per cent each.

On the other hand, Maruti Suzuki, Axis Bank, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, HDFC Life Insurance, and Eicher Motors were the top losers of the session, falling between 1 per cent and 2 per cent each. Adani Enterprises, Apollo Hospitals, ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro, and Kotak Mahindra Bank were also among the top losers.

Market Outlook

The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) started their meeting earlier today, and will conclude their meeting on October 1. The rate-settling committee will review interest rates. Currently, the repo rate stands at 5.50 per cent. Market participants will be watching for a potential rate cut or a hold, after nearly a 1 per cent reduction since February 2025.

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) is set to release India's Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data for August earlier today, post-market hours, which traders would likely react to in the next session. The government data showed India's industrial output grew 4 per cent in August, slightly lower than July's 4.3 per cent.

Manufacturing slowed to 3.8 per cent growth from 6 per cent in July, while mining output rose 6 per cent year-on-year.

Meanwhile, the India-US trade deal deadlock has eased slightly. A delegation from India, led by Minister of Commerce Piyush Goyal, held "constructive" talks with US officials last week to advance a trade deal. Market participants will also be closely tracking this space for further cues on the market's direction.