The benchmark indices closed the session on September 1 with moderate losses, with Sensex falling 12.99 points to 76,944.28 and Nifty declining 24.60 points to 24,055.80. Market breadth remained weak, with 1,668 stocks advancing against 2,467 declining, while 190 stocks ended unchanged. According to reports from Moneycontrol, about 2,093 shares declined, compared with 1,131 that advanced on the NSE. The GIFT NIFTY futures suggest that the NIFTY50 index will open 40 points lower on Wednesday, September 2. However, the latest session showed mixed performance with 21 advancers and 29 decliners, producing an advance-decline ratio of 0.72. The market-cap-weighted constituent change was 0.02%, while the equal-weighted constituent change was -0.28%, indicating that larger companies provided enough support to keep the market-cap-weighted reading marginally positive even as the average constituent moved lower.
Brent crude futures rose 0.7% to $91.13 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 1% to $86.62 as renewed U.S.-Iran fighting revived concerns over supply disruptions in the Middle East. The sharp rise in crude prices continues to keep oil-sensitive sectors such as paints, tyres, aviation and chemicals under pressure, as higher input and fuel costs could weigh on margins. However, upstream oil producers such as ONGC and Oil India could benefit from higher crude realisations, supporting revenue and profitability, while downstream oil marketing companies such as IOC, BPCL and HPCL could face margin pressure. Among multi-stock groups, Crude Oil was the strongest, rising 2.44%, with both Reliance Industries and ONGC advancing significantly. ONGC was among the Nifty gainers after the state-run oil producer outlined plans to invest ₹1 lakh crore over five years in domestic deepwater and ultra-deepwater exploration.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has reversed from its important support zone after its declining trend, forming a rounding bottom chart pattern on the daily scale. As reported by Kotak Securities, the stock is in a steady up move with momentum indicators indicating strong possibility of fresh uptrend rally from current levels. For positional traders, the stock is recommended as a buy with a target of ₹252 and stop-loss at ₹227 as long as it trades above ₹227. ONGC was among the top performers in the Crude Oil group, rising 2.01% and closing near its intraday highs, demonstrating strong technical momentum.
Infosys has formed a promising reversal pattern near the 50-day SMA after a short-term correction, currently trading near the 20-day SMA with a bullish candle formation on daily charts. According to Kotak Securities, ₹1,115 acts as key support for traders, with the uptrend continuing towards ₹1,240 above this level. Cipla has entered an accumulation phase moving within a defined range, with a breakout from the range appearing likely offering favourable risk-reward opportunity. The target for Cipla is set at ₹1,525 with ₹1,370 as crucial support level. In the latest session, IT rose 0.37% on the back of HCL Technologies and Infosys despite declines in Wipro and TCS, indicating selective strength within the technology sector. Information technology stocks bucked the broader weakness, with the Nifty IT index rising 0.9%, while ITC also emerged among the prominent gainers after the company said its technology arm, ITC Infotech, would acquire a 22.1% stake in Happiest Minds Technologies for around ₹1,330 crore.
Sectoral indices ended largely lower, led by pharmaceutical stocks with the Nifty Pharma index falling 1.5%, while Nifty Consumer Durables and Nifty Realty declined 1.4% each. The Nifty Auto and Nifty PSU Bank indices dropped 1.2% each, while Nifty Bank fell 1% and Nifty Private Bank declined 0.9%. In contrast, Nifty FMCG and Nifty IT gained 0.9% each, while Nifty Infrastructure, Nifty Media and Nifty Oil & Gas indices rose 0.3% apiece. The broader market also remained under pressure, with Nifty Midcap index falling 1.4% and Nifty Smallcap index declining 0.2%. The Nifty's close near 24,050 leaves the index at a crucial level as investors continue to weigh strong domestic growth against deteriorating global risk conditions. While India's stronger-than-expected GDP growth of 7.8% year-on-year in the April-June quarter provides a supportive domestic backdrop, elevated oil prices and weakness in broader markets could keep Indian equities volatile in the near term.
