Market Wrap, Sept 8: SENSEX gains 76 points, NIFTY50 at 24,773 as auto stocks rally; Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto lead

The Indian equity benchmark indices ended in the green on Monday, September 8, led by a strong rally in auto stocks, while positive investor sentiment was supported by gains in Asian markets.

The rise in auto stocks was driven by companies starting to announce GST benefits following the recent tax structure overhaul.

On Friday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹1,304.91 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹1,821.23 crore on a net basis, according to exchange data.

The foreign investors have pulled out ₹12,257 crore from Indian equities in the first week of September, weighed down by a stronger dollar, US tariff concerns, and persistent geopolitical tensions.

On the global front, indices in Asia gained on Monday following US payrolls data while investors assessed Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s resignation announcement over the weekend and eyed key economic data in the region.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed 0.81% higher, while the Shanghai Composite was trading up by 0.37%. South Korea's KOSPI and Japan's Nikkei 225 also gained 0.45% and 1.44%, respectively.

Last week, on Wall Street, US stocks ended marginally lower on Friday as investors weighed economic worries against optimism over interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve after data showed US job growth weakened sharply in August.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 220.43 points, or 0.48%, to end at 45,400.86; the S&P 500 fell 20.58 points, or 0.32%, to 6,481.50; and the Nasdaq Composite lost 7.31 points, or 0.03%, to 21,700.39.

As many as 3,145 stocks traded on the NSE on Monday. Out of this, only 1,750 advanced, and 1,285 declined, while 110 scrips remained unchanged.

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

A total of 114 stocks hit their 52-week highs, while 50 stocks touched their one-year lows. Besides, 144 stocks hit their upper circuit limits, and 73 touched their lower circuit bands on Monday.

NSE-listed firms' market capitalisation stood at ₹449.50 lakh crore at the end of the session.

The volatility index India VIX rose 0.53% to end at 10.84 levels.

Nifty Auto led the rally with a strong 3.3% gain, followed by Nifty PSU Bank (up 0.49%), Nifty Realty (0.46%), Nifty Metal (0.37%), and Nifty Oil & Gas (0.24%). In contrast, Nifty IT (-0.94%), Nifty Consumer Durables (-0.34%), Nifty Pharma (-0.27%), and Nifty FMCG (-0.21%) were the top laggards.

The Nifty Smallcap 100 index gained 0.15% to end at 17,684.35 levels, while the Nifty Midcap 100 index closed at the 57,361.15 level, rising 0.50%.

Tata Motors was the most contributing stock, gaining 4.25%, followed by Bajaj Auto (4.08%), Mahindra & Mahindra (4.01%), Eicher Motors (3.31%) and JSW Steel (2.79%).

On the flip side, Trent (-3.99%), Asian Paints (-1.74%), Coal India (-1.35%), Dr Reddy’s (-1.35%) and Nestle India (-1.28%) were the biggest losing stocks on the 50-share index.