SENSEX, NIFTY50 edge lower dragged down by losses in banking, financial services shares

The Indian equity benchmarks edged lower on Tuesday, September 1, as investor sentiment remained cautious tracking a surge in crude price after geopolitical tensions in Middle East resurfaced after United States launched an attack on an Iranian island in the Strait of Hormuz.

The SENSEX fell as much as 121 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 24,031 dragged down by losses in heavyweights like HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, TCS and Eternal.

However, the losses were capped owing to buying in Bharti Airtel, ITC, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Infosys.

As of 9:23 am, the SENSEX was down 59 points at 76,897 and NIFTY50 index slipped 41 points to 24,040.

Asian markets were trading lower following weak closing of markets, rising bond yields in US and surge in crude oil prices after US launched an attack on Iranian island in the Strait of Hormuz.

Japan's Nikkei fell 0.4%, China's Shanghai Composite declined 0.2%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 1.43% and South Korea's KOSPI index plunged 0.75%.

Back home, India's economy grew 7.8% in the April-June quarter of 2026-27, according to the latest GDP estimates released by the government on Monday, beating the RBI's 7% projection.

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) said that the real GDP, measured at constant 2022-23 prices, is estimated at ₹81.36 lakh crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal, up from ₹75.46 lakh crore in the year-ago period.

Nominal GDP at current prices grew 10.3% to ₹88.27 lakh crore in Q1 FY27 from ₹80 lakh crore a year earlier.

Nine of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were trading lower led by the NIFTY Realty index's 1.5% fall. NIFTY Healthcare, Pharma, Private Bank, Bank, Financial Services and Consumer Durables indices also fell between 0.7% and 1.5%.

On the other side, auto, FMCG, IT, metal and media shares were witnessing buying interest.

Broader markets were also facing selling pressure as NIFTY Midcap 100 index fell 0.9% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index declined 0.2%.

Among the individual shares, Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri was locked in a 20% upper circuit at ₹363.55 after the company informed exchanged that GRT Jewellers India Private Limited (GRT), one of India’s leading jewellery retail companies, announced signing of share purchase agreement (SPA) with the promoters of listed jewellery retail company, Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri Limited to acquire their stake of 74.12% in the company.

Happiest Minds shares advanced as much as 6% after the company said that ITC Infotech, a wholly-owned subsidiary of diversified conglomerate ITC Ltd, will merge with Bengaluru-based Happiest Minds Technologies to create an AI-first enterprise with a $1 billion turnover by FY28.

As a precursor to the merger, ITC Infotech will acquire a 22.106 per cent stake from Happiest Minds promoter Ashok Soota and Ashok Soota Medical Research LLP, according to regulatory filings.

Shriram Finance, Max Healthcare, IndiGo, Nestle India, Axis Bank, Asian Paints Bajaj Finserv and Sun Pharma were top losers in the NIFTY50 index.

On the flip side, Adani Ports, ITC, Bharti Airtel, Adani Enterprises, Bajaj Auto, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors PV, HCL Technologies and Hindalco were top gainers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was marginally negative as 1,638 shares were declining while 1,358 were advancing on the BSE.