Indian equity markets went through a rough session on September 8, as heavy selling in banking, IT and auto stocks pulled both benchmark indices into the red by the closing bell. The session reflected a familiar pattern for risk-off days: financial and technology heavyweights faced profit booking while investors rotated into safer, defensive counters.
Where Sensex and Nifty ended the day
The BSE Sensex finished the session down 555.23 points at 75,577.58, while the NSE Nifty dropped 144.05 points to close at 23,635.10, breaking below its closely watched 23,650 support level that traders had flagged in advance. Despite the broad-based selling pressure, market breadth stayed fairly balanced: roughly 2025 stocks advanced, 2174 stocks ended in the red, and 178 shares closed unchanged on the day, suggesting the damage was concentrated in specific heavyweight counters rather than spread evenly across the market.
The stocks that dragged the market down and the ones that held it up
Private banking names bore the brunt of the selling. SBI Life Insurance slid 2.04% and ICICI Bank fell 1.97%, making them the biggest losers on the Nifty. Axis Bank dropped 1.67%, UltraTech Cement lost 1.49%, Larsen & Toubro fell 1.32%, Reliance Industries slipped 1.11%, HDFC Bank declined 1.06%, Maruti Suzuki eased 0.93% and Tata Steel gave up 0.79%.
A handful of stocks bucked the trend. Bharat Electronics (BEL) climbed 1.62% to close at ₹410.55, making it the day's top gainer. Hindustan Unilever added 1.02%, Eicher Motors and ONGC each rose 0.98%, Adani Ports gained 0.93% and Apollo Hospitals moved up 0.88%.
How the sectoral indices played out
Among sectoral gauges, the Nifty Private Bank index took the hardest hit, falling 1%, followed by Nifty Oil & Gas, which slipped 0.67%. The Nifty Bank index eased 0.5% and the IT index lost 0.37%. Defensive sectors, however, kept the overall damage in check: the Media index climbed 1.3%, Pharma rose 0.7% and FMCG gained 0.35%. The broader market also held up, with both the Nifty Midcap and Smallcap indices closing in positive territory despite the selloff in frontline stocks.
Overall, the selling in banking and IT stocks was significant, but strength in defensive sectors and a handful of heavyweight counters helped cushion the fall in the Sensex and Nifty, keeping the broader market from a deeper slide.
