Taking Stock: Hawkish Fed commentary pushes Sensex down for 3rd day, Nifty below 19,750

The biggest drags on the indices were stocks from banks, auto and financial services segments.

Domestic benchmark indices closed for the third straight day in losses on September 21 after the US Federal Reserve maintained the status quo in its policy meeting but indicated that interest rates will remain higher for longer.

Continued selling by foreign institutional investors (FII) and elevated crude oil prices remained a concern. Weakness in global markets also hit the mood back on Dalal Street.

BSE flagship Sensex declined 570.60 points, or 0.85 percent, to 66,230.24, while the broader Nifty 50 slumped 159.05 points, or 0.8 percent, to 19,742.35. The biggest drags on the indices were stocks from banks, auto and financial services segments.

"Bearish sentiment across the global equities led to selling in the domestic market for the third straight session as investors fretted over the US Fed statement indicating one more rate hike later this year," said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd.

"Other negative catalysts like lingering overseas fund outflows, rising US Dollar index and treasury yields, and higher crude oil prices are making investors jittery."

The selling took a toll in investor wealth as well. Shareholders were left poorer by Rs 2.61 lakh crore, reflected by market cap of all BSE listed companies that stood at Rs 317.90 lakh crore.

Stocks and sectors

Broader market performed even worse. Nifty Smallcap 100 declined 1.34 percent while Nifty Midcap 100 0.89 percent. Bse 590, the broadest index on NSE, dropped 0.84 percent.

Index	Prices	Change	Change%
Sensex	84,950.95	388.17	+0.46%
Nifty 50	26,013.45	103.40	+0.40%
Nifty Bank	58,962.70	445.15	+0.76%

Nifty 50 26,013.45 103.40 (0.40%)

Mon, Nov 17, 2025

• 1D
• 5D
• 1M
• 3M
• 6M
• 1Y
• 2Y

Biggest Gainer	Prices	Change	Change%
Eternal	309.55	5.80	+1.91%

Biggest Loser	Prices	Change	Change%
TMPV	372.70	-18.50	-4.73%

Best Sector	Prices	Change	Change%
Nifty PSU Bank	8491.65	91.75	+1.09%

Worst Sector	Prices	Change	Change%
Nifty Metal	10495.90	1.10	+0.01%

Barring Nifty Media that closed marginally in green, all other sectoral indices bled. Nifty PSU Bank, which has been a standout performer in the last one month or so, was the biggest loser during the day, falling 2.28 percent. Nifty Auto, Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services ended lower by about 1.5 percent each.

Among the Nifty 50 stocks, Adani Ports was the top gainer, rising 1.74 percent. Tech Mahindra, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Asian Paints and Bharti Airtel were other big gainers adding over 1 percent each.

M&M was the top loser in the pack, down about 3 percent. ICICI Bank, Cipla, SBI, IndusInd Bank and UltraTech Cement followed with cuts in the range of 2-3 percent as well.

OUTLOOK for Sept 21

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services

Domestic market declined following a hawkish stance by the Fed chair and prolonged high interest rate trajectory which is not positive for a slowing global economy. PSU Banks and Mid & Smallcaps were the worst hit due to stretched valuations and concern over moderation in yields. Rising oil prices and erratic rainfall further led investors to stay cautious in the market.

Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research, Religare Broking

Nifty has tested the short-term moving i.e. 20 EMA and also retraced almost fifty percent of the recent up move. It may take a breather now but the upside seems capped citing the underperformance of select heavyweights. We thus recommend staying stock-specific with a focus on risk management.

Deven Mehata, Equity Research Analyst, Choice Broking

Nifty has support within the 19,700 to 19,600 zone. In terms of Open Interest (OI) data, the highest OI on the call side was observed at the 20,000 strike price, followed by the 19,900 strike price. On the put side, the highest OI was concentrated at the 19,800 strike price. Conversely, Bank Nifty found support in the 44,400 to 44,200 range, while resistance was identified at the 45,000 to 45,100 levels.

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