The S&P BSE Sensex declined 430.53 points or 0.56% to 76,838.49 at 14:25 IST, while the Nifty 50 index fell 152.90 points or 0.63% to 24,022.75. According to reports from Business Standard, market participants remained cautious ahead of the MSCI index rebalancing, which is expected to trigger sizeable passive fund flows under the new Closing Auction Session (CAS) mechanism. The broader market underperformed with the BSE 150 MidCap Index falling 0.58% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index dropping 0.51%. Market breadth remained negative with 1,701 shares rising and 2,642 shares falling on the BSE, while 265 shares were unchanged.
The Nifty IT index declined 1.51% to 30,810.70, witnessing profit-taking after advancing 3.51% in the previous session. Major IT stocks faced significant selling pressure with Persistent Systems down 4.2%, LTM falling 2.65%, Infosys declining 1.93%, Mphasis dropping 1.71%, Coforge falling 1.54%, Wipro down 1.37%, Tech Mahindra declining 1.26%, Tata Consultancy Services falling 0.78%, and Oracle Financial Services Software dropping 0.39%.
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market volatility, rallied 4.98% to 11.21. The Nifty 29 September 2026 futures were trading at 24,256.80, at a premium of 193.50 points compared with the spot price. The Nifty option chain for the 29 September 2026 expiry showed maximum call open interest of 61.4 lakh contracts at the 25,000 strike price and maximum put open interest of 60.5 lakh contracts at the 24,000 strike price.
In the commodities market, Brent crude for November 2026 settlement jumped $2.99 or 3.39% to $91.09 a barrel. According to Business Standard, investors will closely track movements in crude oil and gold prices, domestic and US bond yields, the rupee, and developments surrounding the US-Iran conflict. The Nifty Realty index declined 1.31% to 896.95, extending losses for the third consecutive trading session with a 2.27% drop over three sessions.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar, with the partially convertible rupee hovering at 95.2275 compared with its close of 95.4375 during the previous trading session. The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper rose 0.52% to 6.949 compared with the previous session close of 6.913. The US Dollar Index (DXY) was down 0.16% to 99.54, while the United States 10-year bond yield declined 0.28% to 4.709.
