Indian benchmark indices ended Friday's session lower after a gap-down opening, with SENSEX declining 120.83 points or 0.16% to 74,781.76 and NIFTY50 falling 79.70 points or 0.34% to 23,398.10. According to Business Standard, the sell-off eased from the day's lows but NIFTY remained below the 23,400 level, dragged by weakness in metal and auto shares. Brent crude surged amid concerns over supply disruptions, with Brent crude for November 2026 settlement declining $3.89 or 3.61% to $103.74 a barrel, after jumping 5.9% on Thursday to settle at $107.63. The latest market decline came as geopolitical tensions, soaring crude oil prices, rising US bond yields and cautious global sentiment weigh heavily on investor confidence. Market breadth was negative with 1,739 shares rising and 2,612 shares falling on the BSE, while the NSE's India VIX jumped 3.92% to 12.26, indicating heightened volatility expectations. The Nifty50 fell more than 2% during the previous week to close at 23,398, while the Sensex declined nearly 2.27% to settle at 74,781, extending the weakness in frontline indices and reflecting growing concerns over the impact of expensive crude, elevated global bond yields and continued selling by foreign investors.
NIFTY 50 has slipped below its crucial short and long-term moving averages, with the 20-day moving average crossing below both the 50-day and 100-day moving averages, indicating a bearish setup. According to SAMCO Securities, the index is likely to find support at 23,230, followed by 23,150, while on the upside, 23,620 remains a crucial resistance level. The daily RSI is currently at 27.66 and remains in a falling mode, while the weekly RSI is approaching the crucial 40 mark and continues to trend lower. However, NIFTY 50 formed a green candle on the daily chart on Friday, indicating formation of a bullish meeting line type candle pattern, as noted by HDFC Securities. The bearish lower high and lower low formation is intact on the daily chart and Nifty is currently in the process of forming a new lower bottom at the lows. Any bounce back towards 23,600 could be a strong hurdle for the market for next week, with any further weakness finding support around 23,250 levels.
The NIFTY Metal index declined 3.14% to touch an intraday low of 12,886.10 on Friday, September 11, significantly worse than the previous session's 2.10% decline. As per Ventura Securities, Metal stocks are under pressure due to the fresh escalation in attacks in West Asia, with Vinit Bolinjkar, head of research at Ventura Securities noting that supply chains are likely to be impacted further, deliveries could be delayed, and that is leading to the fall. Hindalco Industries fell 3.21%, State Bank of India declined 1.39%, and Reliance Industries dropped 1.30%. National Aluminium Company (NALCO) fell the most, declining 5% to hit ₹352 on the NSE, Vedanta and Hindustan Copper followed, falling over 4% each, while Vedanta Aluminium slipped 4% to ₹420. Tata Steel and JSW Steel declined 3% each, with the sharp decline triggered by a massive sell-off sentiment among equity investors amid a broader weakness due to global crude oil prices rallying to hit a 17-week high of $110 per barrel and declining commodity metal prices. Aluminium prices have declined 2.5% over the last two days, Zinc futures have lost 5%, and Copper prices have dropped 4.6% due to the pullback triggered by risk sentiment in the market.
Five NIFTY50 stocks have successfully outperformed the benchmark index in the last five trading sessions, with Adani Enterprises leading gains at 5.13%, followed by Coal India at 3.6%, Adani Ports & SEZ at 6.2%, Max Healthcare at 4.3%, and Tata Steel at 2.3%. According to latest market data, Adani Enterprises shares surged 5.13% to close at ₹3,105 after Adani Airport Holdings Limited (AAHL), a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises and one of India's largest private airport operators, entered into binding agreements to raise ₹9,825 crore (nearly $1 billion) of primary equity capital from a consortium of investors. The transaction values AAHL at a pre-money equity valuation of nearly $18 billion and represents one of the largest primary equity investments from financial institutions in India's airport infrastructure sector. Coal India shares were trading 3% higher at ₹432.70 apiece, while Tata Steel shares surged 3.3% to an intraday high of ₹190.26 apiece with trading volumes recording a surge to above 44 million equity shares.
Market experts are advising investors to exercise caution amid the current volatility, with Sachin Gupta from Choice Broking suggesting a near-term approach should be cautious — keep leverage low and use any sharp bounce to reduce exposure to weak or overvalued stocks. Santosh Meena from Swastika Investmart believes an aggressive "buy the dip" strategy across the broader market remains premature, recommending selective caution with higher cash or defensive exposure and only accumulating quality names on deeper corrections. However, Mayank Jain from Share.Market offers a more optimistic medium-term view, expecting crude oil to peak and subsequently cool as geopolitical tensions surrounding the US-Iran conflict move towards a possible diplomatic resolution. The experts emphasize that capital protection should remain the priority while fresh investments should be made selectively and in a staggered manner, with focus on companies with strong balance sheets and reasonable valuations. Vipin Kumar from Globe Capital Market notes that the Nifty Metal index has been going through a short-term consolidation phase (12,800–13,600 zone) within a constructive chart structure, advising traders to accumulate quality metal stocks on dips around the lower band support and price swing lows of the Metal index in the 12,400–12,800 zone. Dr. Ravi Singh from Master Capital Services Ltd notes that the Nifty entered the new week with a distinctly weak structure, declining 2.02% during the previous week and having fallen nearly 5.55% from its recent swing high of 24,774, with immediate support placed at 23,200 and the 23,000 level considered a more important support zone.
