Market Wrap, Sept 18: NIFTY50 holds 25,400 level, SENSEX up 320 points as pharma, IT stocks rally; India VIX down 3.5%

The Indian stock market closed in green on Thursday, September 18, extending its rally for a third straight session, driven by pharma and IT stocks, after the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points to a 4–4.25% range—a level last seen in December 2022.

The equity benchmark indices closed on Thursday at their highest levels since early July.

Indian equity markets, along with their Asian peers, gave a thumbs up to the US Fed's rate cut. A rate cut by the Fed often supports gold and oil prices as liquidity rises and inflation expectations increase.

According to exchange data, on Wednesday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹1,124.54 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹2,293.53 crore on a net basis.

Globally, Asian markets settled mixed, with Japan hitting a new record high after the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates and signalled the possibility of further reductions.

Japan's Nikkei was up 1.30%, and South Korea's KOSPI rose 1.38%, while the Shanghai Composite slipped 1.17%, and Hong Kong's Hang closed 1.30% lower.

On Wall Street, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 slipped in volatile Wednesday trade, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 260.42 points, or 0.57%, to close at 46,018.32. The S&P 500 eased 6.41 points, or 0.10%, to 6,600.35, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 72.63 points, or 0.32%, to 22,261.33.

As many as 3,134 stocks traded on the NSE on Thursday. Out of this, 1,606 advanced and 1,426 stocks declined, while 102 scrips remained unchanged.

This indicated that the market breadth was in favour of advances.

A total of 78 stocks hit their 52-week highs, while 20 stocks touched their one-year lows. Besides, 95 stocks hit their upper circuit limits, and 43 touched their lower circuit bands on Thursday.

NSE-listed firms' market capitalisation stood at ₹462.57 lakh crore at the end of the session.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, stood at 9.89 levels, declining 3.53%.

The broader market was in line with the main equity indices and closed with gains. The Nifty Smallcap 100 index rose 0.29% to end at 18,476.95 levels, while the Nifty Midcap 100 index closed at the 59,073.20 level, surging 0.38%.

Among sectors, Nifty Pharma (1.5%), Nifty IT (0.83%), Nifty Private Bank (0.44%), Nifty FMCG (0.36%) and Nifty Metal (0.32%) were the winners. However, Nifty Media (-0.30%), Nifty PSU Bank (-0.16%), Nifty Realty (-0.07%) and Nifty Oil and Gas (-0.04%) were the only laggards.

Eternal was the most contributing stock, jumping 2.92%, followed by HDFC Life Insurance (2.22%), Sun Pharma (1.75%), Cipla (1.31%) and Infosys (1.23%).

On the flip side, Coal India (-1.69%), Bajaj Finance (-1.33%), Trent (-0.93%), Tata Motors (-0.92%) and Tata Consumer Products (-0.69%) were the top losing stocks on the 50-share index.