Markets End Flat After Roller-Coaster Session; Sensex Sheds 715 Points from Peak

New Delhi, September 5 (HS): The domestic equity market ended Friday’s trading session on a flat note after witnessing sharp swings throughout the day. The session began on a firm footing, supported by early buying interest that lifted both Sensex and Nifty into positive territory. However, selling pressure soon erased the gains, dragging the indices into the red. In the latter half, renewed buying helped markets recover, with Sensex closing almost unchanged and Nifty finishing marginally higher.

At the close, the Sensex slipped 0.009%, while the Nifty added 0.027%.

Sectoral Highlights

Automobile and metal stocks led the rally with strong gains. Public sector enterprises, healthcare, consumer durables, and banking counters also closed slightly higher. On the flip side, IT, FMCG, and technology shares came under sustained selling pressure. Oil & gas as well as capital goods indices also ended weaker.

In the broader market, performance was mixed: the BSE Midcap index fell 0.10%, while the Smallcap index edged up 0.09%.

Investor Wealth Grows Despite Flat Market

Despite the subdued closing, investors saw gains of nearly ₹16,000 crore in market capitalization. The combined market cap of BSE-listed firms rose to ₹451.44 lakh crore, compared to ₹451.28 lakh crore in the previous session.

Trading Action

On the BSE, 4,260 stocks were actively traded: 2,134 advanced, 1,957 declined, and 169 remained unchanged.

On the NSE, 2,776 companies traded: 1,411 ended positive and 1,365 closed lower.

Within the benchmark indices, 14 out of 30 Sensex stocks advanced, while 16 ended in losses. Similarly, in Nifty, 27 closed in the green, with 23 in the red.

Index Movement

Sensex: Opened strong at 81,012.42, surged to 81,036.56, then tumbled to 80,321.19 as selling gripped the market. A sharp recovery lifted the index, but it still ended almost flat, down 7.25 points at 80,710.76—a fall of 715 points from the day’s peak.

Nifty: Opened at 24,818.85 and hit a high of 24,832.35 before slipping to 24,621.60. It later recovered and settled 6.70 points higher at 24,741.

Top Gainers

Eicher Motors (+2.42%)

Mahindra & Mahindra (+2.29%)

Maruti Suzuki (+1.59%)

Power Grid Corporation (+1.26%)

Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (+1.21%)

Top Losers

ITC (−2.06%)

HCL Technologies (−1.68%)

Cipla (−1.55%)

TCS (−1.53%)