Indian equity benchmarks gave up early session gains on September 3 as intense volatility and late afternoon profit-taking dragged trading sentiment lower. Despite opening on a firm footing in green territory, both the Sensex and Nifty 50 reversed direction by the closing bell to end in the red. However, defying the broader market downturn, Adani Ports extended its winning streak for a second consecutive session, emerging once again as the top gainer on the Nifty index.
Sensex and Nifty End Lower: Key Closing Highlights
The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped by 417.49 points to settle at 76,152.86 by the end of the trading day. Simultaneously, the broader 50-share NSE Nifty 50 slipped 41.00 points to close at 23,873.45. Despite the decline in front-line benchmark indices, the overall market breadth favored gainers. On the national exchange, 2,453 stocks registered advances, 1,686 shares witnessed declines, while 178 stocks remained unchanged at their previous closing prices.
Adani Ports Surges 3.5% in Two Days Alongside Top Gainers
Amid the prevailing weakness across major sectors, Adani Ports demonstrated significant strength. Having gained 1.51% on September 2, the stock climbed another 2.02% on September 3 to close at ₹1,706.50, taking its cumulative two-day surge to approximately 3.5%. Alongside Adani Ports, banking and consumer stocks also witnessed notable buying interest. Axis Bank advanced by 1.04%, while HDFC Bank rose 0.83%. Additionally, Tata Consumer gained 0.71%, Bharat Electronics climbed 0.70%, and Asian Paints finished 0.56% higher.
IT, Auto, and FMCG Stocks Face Strong Selling Pressure
Conversely, several blue-chip stocks came under heavy selling pressure, pulling the benchmark indices lower. Bajaj Auto led the list of top losers with a decline of 1.73%, followed closely by Tech Mahindra, which slumped 1.54%. Retail major Trent lost 1.29%, while pharmaceutical giant Cipla declined 1.28%. Other prominent laggards included Mahindra & Mahindra (-1.25%), ITC (-1.24%), Tata Consultancy Services (-1.19%), and UltraTech Cement (-1.04%).
Sectoral Trends and Broader Market Performance
In sectoral performance, indices tracking Auto, FMCG, IT, and Pharma lost around 0.5% each. On the flip side, the Realty index staged an impressive rally, surging 2.5%, while the Media index posted a gain of 1.7%. Both PSU Bank and Private Bank sectoral indices rose by 0.5%. While heavyweights dragged the main indices down, broader market sentiment remained resilient, with the Nifty Midcap index adding 0.37% and the Nifty Smallcap index jumping 1.2% by the close of trade.
