Market Wrap, September 2: SENSEX down 374 pts, NIFTY50 ends at 23,014; Eicher Motors, Wipro top losers

The Indian stock market ended in the red for the third straight session on Wednesday, September 2, as investor sentiment remained bearish amid escalating tensions between the United States and Iran. The elevated crude oil prices also made the market investors cautious.

Brent crude futures surged as much as 5.91% to hit an intraday high of $96.99 per barrel on Wednesday amid escalating tensions in West Asia.

US President Donald Trump said that he is not trying to force Iran back to the negotiating table, dismissing reports that Washington is seeking a new agreement with Tehran.

“I like our position now much better, with almost total control of the Hormuz Strait, and their economy totally collapsing,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

According to exchange data, on Tuesday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought equities worth ₹1,143.38 crore on a net basis, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased ₹1,846.94 crore worth of equities.

Globally, markets across the world closed lower after the US military said it carried out a wave of strikes against Iranian military targets, with Iranian media reporting explosions in Asaluyeh, Jiroft, Bandar Abbas, Qeshm Island, Konarak, Chabahar, Jask, Sirik and Lavan.

Japan's Nikkei declined 2.71%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.24%, and the Shanghai Composite closed 0.98% lower, while South Korea's KOSPI index tanked 4.16%.

On Wall Street, the US stocks ended lower for a third straight session on Tuesday on the back of surging oil prices and rising bond yields. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.8%, S&P 500 index declined 0.71% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq index dropped 1%.

Here are the key developments of Wednesday's session that you need to know

The NIFTY Smallcap 100 index declined 0.37% to end at 19,812.25 levels, while the NIFTY Midcap 100 index closed at the 63,001.60 level, slipping 0.53%.

On the NIFTY50 index, 36 stocks declined while 14 advanced at the end of the session.

Eicher Motors was the top laggard on the index, falling 3.24%, followed by Wipro (-2.54%), Mahindra & Mahindra (-2.12%), Bajaj Auto (-1.87%) and Asian Paints (-1.86%).

Among sectors, NIFTY Oil & Gas (0.33%), NIFTY Realty (0.21%) and NIFTY PSU Bank (0.07%) were the only gainers.

NIFTY Auto was the most impacted, losing 1.79%, followed by NIFTY Media (-1.75%), NIFTY IT (-1.25%), NIFTY Private Bank (-0.56%) and NIFTY FMCG (-0.47%).   

As many as 3,630 stocks traded on the NSE on Wednesday. Out of this, 1,445 advanced and 2,073 stocks declined, while 112 scrips remained unchanged.

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

A total of 104 stocks hit their 52-week highs, while 130 stocks touched their one-year lows. Besides, 116 stocks hit their upper circuit limits, and 99 touched their lower circuit bands on Wednesday.

NSE-listed firms' market capitalisation stood at ₹486.25 lakh crore at the end of the session.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, stood at 11.34 levels, slipping 1.34%.