Taking Stock: Nifty, Sensex slip from record high ahead of Fed policy decision

Stocks Market Today

Indian benchmarks climbed to fresh record high but failed to hold on the gains on September 18 and ended negative as investors await the US Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rate later in the day.

At close, the Sensex was down 131.43 points or 0.16 percent at 82,948.23, and the Nifty was down 41.00 points or 0.16 percent at 25,377.50.

After a negative start, the market rebounded to hit fresh record high led by the banking stocks but failed to hold on the gains in the second half to end on a negative zone led by selling across the sectors, barring banking names.

The Fed is widely expected to lower rates, but the size of the cut, whether 25 basis points or 50 bps, was not clear.

The Fed's reason for its decision and commentary on future policy will likely influence the near-term trajectory of Indian equities in terms of foreign inflows and the outlook for the IT and pharma sectors.

Biggest Nifty losers were TCS, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Tech Mahindra and Wipro, while gainers included Bajaj Finance, Shriram Finance, Bajaj Finserv, ICICI Bank and Nestle India.

Except bank, all other sectoral indices ended in the red with IT index shedding more than 3 percent, while auto, pharma, metal, oil & gas indices were down 0.5-1 percent.

The BSE midcap index shed 0.7 percent and smallcap index was down 0.5 percent.

Index	Prices	Change	Change%
Sensex	85,265.32	158.51	+0.19%
Nifty 50	26,033.75	47.75	+0.18%
Nifty Bank	59,288.70	-59.55	-0.10%

Nifty 50 26,033.75 47.75 (0.18%)

Thu, Dec 04, 2025

• 1D
• 5D
• 1M
• 3M
• 6M
• 1Y
• 2Y

Biggest Gainer	Prices	Change	Change%
TCS	3,229.20	49.20	+1.55%

Biggest Loser	Prices	Change	Change%
Interglobe Avi	5,436.50	-159.00	-2.84%

Best Sector	Prices	Change	Change%
Nifty IT	38360.30	535.00	+1.41%

Worst Sector	Prices	Change	Change%
Nifty Energy	34986.10	-118.90	-0.34%

270 stocks touched their 52-high on the BSE, including, ICICI Bank, Shriram Finance, Bhati Airtel, Sun Pharma, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, Torrent Power, PCBL, Maharashtra Scooters, Bikaji Foods, Radico Khaitan, MCX India, Quess Corp, Ramkrishna Forgings, HFCL, Motilal Oswal, UTI AMC, Lloyds Metals, Page Industries, among others. Click to view full list

Outlook for September 19

Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst, LKP Securities

The Nifty index reached a new all-time high ahead of the important announcement from the Federal Reserve about interest rates. However, some traders decided to take profits at these higher levels, which caused the market to close about 130 points below its peak for the day.

Lately, Nifty has been moving within a small range. On the downside, there is support at 25,300. If Nifty falls below this level, it could lead to a further drop towards the 24,900-25,000 range. On the upside, 25,500 is acting as a resistance level, meaning it may be difficult for the market to move above this point in the short term.

Aditya Gaggar Director of Progressive Shares

Banking stocks-led rally allowed the Index to register a new high of 25,482 but a vertical fall in the Mid and Smallcaps mounted pressure on the Index to eventually trade lower. A late recovery helped the Index trim some of its losses to end the session at 25,377.55 with a loss of 41 points. Barring banking indices, all the sectors ended in red with IT and Pharma being the major laggards. Mid and Smallcaps corrected by 0.71 percent & 0.39 percent and underperformed the benchmark Index.

Considering an overnight event (outcome of FOMC on rate cut), big swings can be expected on either side for the Index where 25,580 will be considered as a hurdle while 25,250 will serve as support.

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