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Post Session: Quick Review
Sep-18-2026

Indian equities closed mixed after a largely range-bound session, as lower crude oil prices and better global sentiment supported the markets, while ongoing geopolitical tensions kept investors cautious. Meanwhile, sentiments remained upbeat as US President Donald Trump stated that Washington is hopefully toward the end of fighting with Iran and that he has spoken directly with Iran. 

The BSE Sensex ended marginally lower, giving up its early gains as losses in IT heavyweight stocks kept the index under pressure. In contrast, the Nifty 50 closed higher, supported by gains in select heavyweight stocks, particularly HDFC Bank. Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone led the gainers, providing further support to the benchmark.

Some of the important factors in trade:

Moody’s raises India’s GDP growth forecast to 7% for FY27: Investors remained optimistic after Moody’s Ratings sharply raised India’s GDP growth forecast for the FY27 to 7% from its earlier estimate of 6%, citing the country's resilience to global shocks arising from the conflict in the Middle East.

India, New Zealand expedite domestic processes for early FTA implementation: Traders took some support with the Commerce Ministry stating that India and New Zealand are working closely to complete their respective domestic processes to facilitate the early implementation of the pact. 

FIIs remains net sellers: Sentiment remained downbeat as provisional exchange data showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers on Thursday, offloading equities worth Rs 3,208 crore.

On the global front: European stocks were trading lower, after a European Central Bank survey showed Euro Zone consumers nudged up their inflation expectations last month. Asian markets closed mostly in the green, as a pullback in oil prices eased inflation concerns and a tech-led rebound on Wall Street lifted sentiment ahead of the Bank of Japan’s interest-rate decision.

The BSE Sensex ended at 74294.96, down by 19.63 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 74294.96 and 74728.44. There were 17 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index, while one stock remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Industrials up by 1.70%, Capital Goods up by 1.56%, Power up by 1.32%, Utilities up by 1.15% and Telecom up by 0.92%, while IT down by 1.34%, Consumer Durables down by 1.27%, FMCG down by 0.52% and TECK down by 0.24% were the few losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC Bank up by 2.48%, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone up by 2.00%, Interglobe Aviation up by 1.80%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.74% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.50%. On the flip side, TCS down by 4.11%, Maruti Suzuki India down by 1.80%, Infosys down by 1.60%, HCL Technologies down by 1.19% and Tata Steel down by 1.04% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that the government is targeting at least 200 startups and companies engaged in chip design in India under the next phase of the country’s semiconductor mission, Semicon 2.0. He noted that under Semicon 1.0, more than 105 startups attempted chip design, of which about 20 secured venture capital funding worth around Rs 800 crore. He said the country had built the foundational base for a domestic semiconductor industry over the past few years through Semicon 1.0, a calibrated programme focused on nurturing talent and building the ecosystem. 

The minister stated that the six pillars of Semicon 2.0 are design, machines and materials, fabrication units, advanced packaging, research and development, and talent. The chip design would be the first of six pillars under the next phase of the semiconductor mission. The second pillar, machines and materials, would cover the entire ecosystem of capital equipment, maintenance facilities, chemicals and gases. The third pillar will focus on setting up more display, memory, silicon, compound and logic fabrication units, which he said would have a multiplier effect on the ecosystem. The fourth pillar would focus on scaling up advanced packaging units, building on an existing 3D packaging facility coming up in Odisha. Under the fifth pillar, research and development, the government will focus on industry-driven, applied R&D projects in collaboration with academia. 

On the sixth pillar, Vaishnaw said the focus would be on talent development. He said the government had already trained 70,000 design engineers in four years against a Semicon 1.0 target of training 85,000 over 10 years.  He further said under Semicon 2.0, the government will additionally target developing 1 lakh skilled technicians, cleanroom personnel and factory floor talent for direct employment in upcoming semiconductor factories in India, creating a global pool of talent. He described the semiconductor mission as a long journey, saying the foundation built so far would support India's broader objective of becoming a developed nation, or Viksit Bharat, by 2047. 

The CNX Nifty ended at 23346.40, up by 75.80 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 23286.60 and 23389.15. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone up by 4.93%, Adani Enterprises up by 3.31%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.12%, HDFC Bank up by 2.52% and Bajaj Finance up by 2.49%. On the flip side, TCS down by 3.88%, Tata Motors Passenger down by 3.40%, SBI Life Insurance down by 2.03%, Coal India down by 1.94% and Maruti Suzuki India down by 1.90% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading lower; France’s CAC fell 66.73 points or 0.82% to 8,120.20, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 77.6 points or 0.72% to 10,738.54 and Germany’s DAX lost 172.61 points or 0.67% to 25,544.10.

Asian markets settled mostly higher on Friday, tracking Wall Street’s overnight gains, with technology stocks led the surge following reports that SK Hynix and Intel are in early talks to produce memory chips at Intel's idle Ohio complex in the United States. Moreover, lower Brent crude prices eased inflation concerns and boosted market sentiment. Japan’s Nikkei climbed and the Japanese yen weakened after the Bank of Japan raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 1.25%, its highest level since 1995. Further, Chinese and Hong Kong markets rose as investors remained optimistic about the upcoming meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on September 24, 2026.

Asian Indices

Last Trade            

Change in Points

Change in %      

Shanghai Composite

3,911.87

36.27

0.94

Hang Seng

24,750.78

146.49

0.60

Jakarta Composite

6,441.16

-21.27

-0.33

KLSE Composite

1,665.56

-9.18

-0.55

Nikkei 225

65,018.95

882.70

1.38

Straits Times

5,656.11

-4.41

-0.08

KOSPI Composite

6,894.23

178.82

2.66

Taiwan Weighted

47,180.75

892.75

1.93
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