The domestic equity market staged a recovery on Wednesday, with the BSE Sensex rising 332.63 points or 0.45% to settle at 74,336.45 and the NSE Nifty50 gaining 99 points or 0.43% to end at 23,217.60. According to Business Standard, the broader market ended marginally lower with the Nifty Midcap100 falling 0.01% and the Nifty Smallcap declining 0.18%. Market breadth remained mixed with 2,517 shares rising and 1,707 shares falling on the BSE, while 235 shares remained unchanged. The recovery came after the market had snapped a two-session losing streak, with the Nifty hovering above the 23,250 mark as buying interest in select domestic sectors provided support. As reported by HDFC SKY, the BSE Sensex was up 0.3% and the Nifty 50 was up 0.4% as of 10:15 am on Thursday, even as the NSE IPO competed for attention. The market recovery helped recover some of the losses recorded during yesterday's sharp crash that wiped off more than ₹9 lakh crore from Dalal Street.
Sectoral participation remained mixed with FMCG, realty and banking stocks emerging among the key gainers, while IT and pharma ended in negative territory. Among the major Nifty gainers, HDFC Life Insurance Company Ltd, SBI Life Insurance Company Ltd, State Bank of India (SBI), ITC Ltd and Nestle India Ltd advanced up to 2.73%. As reported by Business Standard, the Nifty Pharma index jumped 1.28% to ₹26,480.80, snapping a five-day losing streak that had seen the index decline 2.73% in the past five consecutive trading sessions. The sector recovery came after the Fed's rate hike concerns had weighed on rate-sensitive stocks, with Alkem Laboratories surging 3.36%, Gland Pharma gaining 3%, and other major pharma stocks posting significant gains. According to HDFC SKY, Bharat Electronics (BEL) led the gainers, rising 1.89% to ₹393.05, while Bajaj Finance (BAJFINANCE) climbed 1.3% to ₹1,019.30 and Eternal (ETERNAL) advanced 0.95% to ₹320. Among broader market indices, the Nifty Midcap Select, Nifty Next 50 and Nifty Smallcap 100 led, up 0.47%, 0.45% and 0.41% respectively, while the Nifty Bank, Nifty Financial Services and Nifty 50 lagged. Large-cap stocks led the gains, driven by strength in banking, FMCG and automobile counters, while the IT sector witnessed selective profit booking following its recent outperformance.
Semiconductor stocks witnessed significant gains with Syrma SGS Technology emerging as the top gainer, rising 7.11% by midday, while MosChip Technologies surged 4.95% and Kaynes Technology India gained 4.71%. According to Business Standard, Dixon Technologies advanced 1.11% and Avalon Technologies rose 1.07%. The stocks remained in focus as Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated SEMICON India 2026, a three-day event from September 17-19 under the theme "Silicon to Systems: Building the Ecosystem," with more than 600 companies and representatives from 52 countries participating. The event brings together companies, policymakers, investors, researchers, startups and academic institutions from across the semiconductor and electronics value chain.
Market activity showed mixed participation with 1,688 stocks witnessing advances, 1,855 stocks seeing declines while 119 stocks remained unchanged out of the 3,662 stocks that traded on the NSE on September 16. Among the most active stocks in value terms, Groww (₹2,829 crore), Paytm (₹2,742 crore), Pine Labs (₹2,072 crore), HDFC Bank (₹1,973 crore), Tata Chemicals (₹1,896 crore), ICICI Bank (₹1,303 crore) and RIL (₹1,253 crore) featured prominently. In terms of volume trading, Vodafone Idea (30.78 crore shares), Yes Bank (20.54 crore shares), Groww (14.8 crore shares), IFCI (11.4 crore shares), Pine Labs (11.24 crore shares), Suzlon Energy (6.5 crore shares) and Ola Electric (4.23 crore shares) were among the most actively traded stocks. Patanjali Foods, Policy Bazaar, Vardhman Textiles, Aegis Logistics, Max Financial, Urban Company and eClerx Services were among the stocks that witnessed strong buying interest, while Tata Investment, Premier Energies, HEG, CarTrade Tech, Granules India, Pine Labs and HFCL faced significant selling pressure.
The market recovery was supported by easing crude oil prices and a largely priced-in US Fed rate hike, with Brent crude dipping after reports that Saudi Arabia was offering additional crude cargoes via Oman eased concerns about the scale of Middle East supply disruptions. As reported by Business Standard, the rupee also remained under pressure near ₹95.95 per dollar, while persistent foreign institutional investor (FII) selling continued to weigh on sentiment. The Fed raised its benchmark rate by 25 basis points to the 3.75-4.00% range on Wednesday, with new chair Kevin Warsh joining a unanimous decision that effectively acknowledged the Trump administration's struggle to control inflation. The move reflects persistent inflation pressure from Trump's global import tariffs, the energy shock following the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran, and heavy capital spending tied to the artificial intelligence boom. Market experts emphasized that investors now await the Fed Chair's commentary for deeper insight into the future rate trajectory, with the guidance expected to influence global liquidity conditions and capital flows. The constructive mood was further reinforced by a moderation in Japanese bond yields ahead of the BoJ's policy decision, supporting risk appetite across Asia.
