SENSEX falls over 500 points, NIFTY50 below 23,500 weighed down by IT stocks

The Indian equity benchmarks staged a gap down opening and nosedived on Wednesday, September 9, tracking a surge in crude oil and rising bond yields in the United States.

The SENSEX fell as much as 609 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 23,477 dragged down by weakness in index heavyweights like Infosys, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Bharti Airtel and HCL Technologies.

As of 9:26 am, the SENSEX was down 529 points at 75,048 and NIFTY50 index declined 126 points to 23,508.

US stocks ended lower on Tuesday tracking a surge in crude and rising bond yields.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.18%, S&P 500 index declined 0.58% and tech heavy Nasdaq slipped 0.32%.

Brent crude was hovering around $100 per barrel after renewed attacks across ‌the Middle East heightened worries about supply disruptions.

The US forces hit multiple Iranian oil tankers and Iran targeted a US base in Jordan, the report added.

Back home, selling pressure was broad based as 12 of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were trading lower led by the NIFTY IT index's 3% fall. NIFTY Bank, Financial Services, Auto, FMCG, PSU Bank, Private Bank and Realty indices also fell between 0.4% and 0.8%.

On the other hand, select metal, healthcare and oil & gas shares were witnessing buying interest.

Broader markets were also facing selling pressure as NIFTY Midcap 100 index declined 0.5% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index fell 0.31%.

Among the individual shares, Coforge dropped as much as 9% to an intraday low of ₹1,780 after O.P. Bhatt resigned as the company’s Non-Executive Independent Director and Chairperson with immediate effect on September 8.

The resignation followed concerns raised during an internal audit review of the board evaluation process, including the disclosure of certain material information relating to the Board Evaluation Report and the Chairperson’s performance.

The company said the board had sought an explanation from Bhatt and was still evaluating his response when he resigned. Vivek Sharma, Non-Executive Independent Director, has been designated as interim Chairperson until January 31, 2027.

Graphite India shares climbed as much as 15.74% to a fresh 52-week high of ₹850 after global graphite electrode maker GrafTech International announced a minimum 30% price increase for all open commercial negotiations, effective immediately.

The move is positive for Indian graphite electrode manufacturers such as Graphite India as it signals a potential improvement in global electrode pricing after a prolonged period of weak realisations.

Infosys was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock fell 2.9% to ₹1,051. Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, HDFC Life, TCS, Wipro, Tata Motors PV, Hindustan Unilever, Bharti Airtel, Mahindra & Mahindra and Eternal also fell between 1% and 2.8%.

On the flip side, Adani Enterprises, Coal India, Max Healthcare, NTPC, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Steel, Apollo Hospitals and Power Grid were top gainers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was negative as 1,760 shares were declining while 1,307 were advancing on the NSE.