Market at Close | Sensex slumps 556 points, Nifty ends below 24,900; IT stocks extend losing streak

Indian equity benchmarks Nifty 50 and Sensex fell for the fifth consecutive session on Thursday (September 25), closing at the day’s low as selling pressure intensified across sectors barring metals and defence. The Sensex declined 556 points to end at 81,160, while the Nifty shed 166 points to close below the 24,900 mark at 24,891.

The weakness was led by auto and IT stocks. The Nifty IT index recorded its fifth straight day of losses, with Tata Consultancy Services hitting a 52-week low. Tata Motors dropped 3% following updates on the impact of the recent cybersecurity incident at its Jaguar Land Rover unit. Realty stocks also weighed on the indices, with Prestige Estates and Godrej Properties among the top laggards.

From the Sensex basket, Axis Bank Ltd, Bharti Airtel Ltd, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd were the major gainers. Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Tata Motors Ltd, Asian Paints Ltd, NTPC Ltd

and Bajaj Finance Ltd were the biggest laggards.

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On the other hand, shipbuilding and defence names outperformed after the Cabinet cleared schemes for maritime and shipbuilding development. Hindustan Aeronautics gained 2% after the Defence Ministry signed a ₹62,370 crore deal for Tejas Mk-1A aircraft. Hindustan Copper rallied over 6% as copper prices touched a multi-month high.

In broader markets, the Nifty Bank slipped 145 points to 54,976, and the Midcap index fell 369 points to 57,556. Polycab lost more than 1% after about 1.5% equity changed hands, with the promoter group likely to be the seller. Market breadth remained weak, with the NSE advance-decline ratio at 2:5, indicating more stocks declined than advanced.

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