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Post Session: Quick Review
Sep-17-2026

Indian equities markets ended the range bound trade mixed on Thursday, following the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates by 25 basis points, its first rate hike since 2023. Sentiments remained cautious due to continuous selling by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), who offloaded securities worth Rs 2,032.61 crore on Wednesday.

The BSE Sensex closed slightly below the neutral line, weighed down by selling pressure in banking heavyweight stocks and caution ahead of the weekly F&O contract expiry, while Nifty managed to finish higher, supported by broad-based buying across most sectors, particularly in Industrials, Insurance, and Financial Services counters.

Some of the important factors in trade:

India remains key driver of global growth: Traders took support with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Deputy Managing Director Nigel Clarke stating that India remains a key driver of global growth and continues to be the world’s fastest-growing major economy, supported by strong fundamentals and sound policy frameworks. 

Govt slashes windfall tax on petrol, diesel, ATF exports: Sentiments remained upbeat as the Indian government cut the windfall gains tax on export of petrol, diesel and Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) for the fortnight beginning September 16, 2026.

India, Bhutan discuss development partnership, energy, trade and connectivity: Traders took note of India and Bhutan discussed key areas of bilateral cooperation, including development partnership, energy, trade and connectivity as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held talks with his Bhutanese counterpart D N Dhungyel in Bumthang on September 16, 2026.

On the global front: European stocks were trading higher, as the global bond selloff paused following Wednesday’s hawkish Fed hike. Asian markets closed mixed, amid easing Middle East supply concerns on reports of Saudi Arabia loading crude cargoes via Oman.

The BSE Sensex ended at 74314.59, down by 21.86 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 74163.95 and 74677.56. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.96%, Industrials up by 1.51%, Realty up by 1.47%, Healthcare up by 1.36% and Power up by 1.34%, while Bankex down by 0.50%, Energy down by 0.35%, Oil & Gas down by 0.25%, and TECK down by 0.08%, were the few losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.68%, Eternal up by 2.04%, Interglobe Aviation up by 2.02%, Bharat Electronics up by 1.94% and TCS up by 1.90%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 1.25%, HDFC Bank down by 1.09%, ICICI Bank down by 0.77%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.56% and State Bank of India down by 0.45% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) has said that The Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) charges on UPI transactions above Rs 2,000 may push small merchants and cost-conscious consumers back to cash. With effect from October 15, UPI payments to merchants (P2M) above Rs 2,000 will attract a 0.4 per cent MDR with an overall cap of Rs 300. 

Besides, a flat concessional MDR of Rs 5 would be applicable on specific merchant categories such as railways, telecom services, insurance, and fuel for transaction above Rs 2,000. GTRI Founder Ajay Srivastava said that UPI fees are not about revenue as keeping UPI free costs the government Rs 2,000-2,500 crore annually.

He stated ‘This is tiny compared with subsidies of Rs 2.03 lakh crore for food, Rs 1.68 lakh crore for fertilisers, Rs 22,800 crore for agricultural credit and Rs 12,500 crore for petroleum and LPG’. He noted the NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India) itself earned Rs 3,270 crore and retained a surplus of Rs 1,552 crore in FY2025. He added that clearly, this is not a revenue problem and charging for UPI will not save public money. 

The CNX Nifty ended at 23270.60, up by 53.00 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 23193.65 and 23363.55. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Life Insurance up by 5.05%, Tata Motors Passenger up by 4.49%, SBI Life Insurance up by 4.06%, Dr. Reddy's Labs. up by 3.07% and Bharat Electronics up by 2.51%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.85%, Titan Company down by 1.38%, HDFC Bank down by 1.18%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.01% and Coal India down by 1.01% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading higher; Germany’s DAX gained 157.55 points or 0.62% to 25,695.30, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 49.14 points or 0.46% to 10,737.61 and France’s CAC rose 7.11 points or 0.09% to 8,147.70.

Asian markets ended mixed on Thursday as US Federal Reserve hiked interest rates for the first time in three years and signalled more hikes to curb persistent inflation. Chinese and Hong Kong markets declined as traders remained on sidelines ahead of high-level US-China talks scheduled for this weekend for final preparatory discussions before the September 24 summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping at the White House in Washington. Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkie gained on declining oil prices amid expectations that crude flows through Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline could resume soon.

Asian Indices

Last Trade            

Change in Points

Change in %      

Shanghai Composite

3,875.60

-16.00

-0.41

Hang Seng

24,604.29

-109.49

-0.44

Jakarta Composite

6,462.43

25.58

0.40

KLSE Composite

1,674.74

-4.47

-0.27

Nikkei 225

64,136.25

213.25

0.33

Straits Times

5,660.52

25.11

0.45

KOSPI Composite

6,715.41

-2.56

-0.04

Taiwan Weighted

46,288.00

439.10

0.96
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