Nifty's wildest session in weeks: a 40-point gap up, a 183-point slide, and a close down just 0.36% at 23,329

The opening. Nifty opened with a 40-point gap up at 23,454, tracking strong gains in global markets led by AI stocks, while a cooldown in crude oil prices provided further support. The index held above 23,450 and briefly climbed toward 23,465-23,470 in the opening hour, but the momentum faded quickly.

The slide. Selling intensified after 10 AM, dragging Nifty sharply lower to around 23,380 by 10:45 AM. A brief recovery toward 23,400 failed to sustain, and the index gradually slipped to around 23,350 by noon. Weakness continued into the second half: Nifty fell below 23,325 around 1 PM, briefly recovered, then saw another round of selling that pushed it to an intraday low near 23,285 around 2 PM.

The recovery that didn't hold. A sharp bounce followed, taking Nifty back toward 23,400 on reports of discussions to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — but the recovery lost steam in the final hour. The index steadily gave up most of the bounce and closed near the day's lower levels at 23,329.00, around 125 points below its opening level.

• Breadth — mixed, and new lows now lead: 1,048 advancers vs 1,236 decliners. New 52-week lows outnumbered highs 14 to 10 — the first time in these editions that lows have led — while just 33.3% of Nifty 500 stocks held above their 50-day average (Zerodha AMR).

• Positioning — a sharp swing toward caution: The put-call ratio fell from 1.20 to 0.91 as call writing dominated, and Nifty options now price a roughly 253-point move either way into the September 29 expiry — nearly double Monday's implied range. FIIs are now just 10.5% long in index futures, down from 12.4% Monday.

• Flows — DIIs absorb the biggest FII sell-off tracked so far: DIIs net bought ₹4,120.07 crore of cash equities — comfortably the largest single-day domestic buy in the editions we have tracked — while FIIs sold ₹3,809.99 crore, more than reversing Monday's smaller net buy.

• Sentiment and volume — two new tells: The Fear & Greed Index (new to this edition's tracking) read 35 — in the "Fear" zone. Gabriel India jumped 14.04% on 30x its usual volume, while Himadri Speciality recorded the day's biggest delivery spike (Zerodha AMR).

• PhonePe has received in-principle approval from the UAE central bank for two licences covering retail payment services, card schemes and stored-value facilities. The Walmart-backed fintech still needs final regulatory approval before starting commercial operations in the UAE.

• Sunil Singhania-promoted Abakkus Asset Manager has filed its DRHP with SEBI for an IPO. The issue will be entirely an offer-for-sale of 1.5 crore shares by promoter Abakkus Expert Professional, with no fresh-issue component.

• JSW Group has entered the electric commercial vehicle market with its Ampstar brand, planning a portfolio of electric trucks and buses over the next 3-4 years. JSW Greentech has invested ₹2,500 crore in a Maharashtra plant with an initial capacity of 15,000 vehicles annually, expandable to 25,000 units.

• Gold sales during Ganesh Chaturthi fell around 15% YoY in volume terms as record-high prices pushed consumers toward smaller, lightweight purchases; jewellers also saw greater use of old-gold exchanges as buyers looked to reduce the cost of new jewellery.

• Bernstein said FIIs may return to India for trading opportunities but have little reason to make longer-term investments, citing high valuations, currency returns, earnings revisions and limited investable opportunities — and argued that many large-cap companies are underinvesting in areas such as EVs, semiconductors and solar.

• Currency: USD/INR eased to 95.65 on the reference cross (Wed, 23 Sep 2026, 00:02 UTC), down from 95.87 a day earlier — the rupee firmed slightly even as FIIs were sharp net sellers of cash equities.

• Oil: Crude fell below $91 a barrel — a more-than-two-week low — extending losses for a fifth straight session, on reports Iran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz if the US lifts its blockade of Iranian ports. Every dollar lower eases the inflation and rupee arithmetic for India.

• Foreign positioning: Bernstein's view — that FIIs may trade India but have little reason to invest for the long term at current valuations — frames the day's flow picture: a sharp FII cash sell-off and a deeper index-futures short, absorbed almost entirely by DIIs.

Gold's climb to a record spot price is the same story behind Tuesday's other headline: gold sales during Ganesh Chaturthi fell around 15% YoY in volume terms as record-high prices pushed consumers toward smaller, lightweight purchases, with jewellers seeing more old-gold exchanges as buyers looked to cut the cost of new jewellery (Zerodha AMR). At today's spot price, a gram of 24K gold works out to roughly ₹13,320 before any duty, GST or making charges are added.

• The scale of it: FIIs sold ₹3,809.99 crore of cash equities on Tuesday — more than reversing Monday's net sell of ₹576.20 crore — while DIIs bought ₹4,120.07 crore, the largest single-day domestic buy these editions have tracked.

• The caveat: FIIs also deepened their index-futures short (10.5% long ratio, from 12.4%), and the options market's swing from put-heavy to call-writing-heavy (PCR 1.20 → 0.91) suggests traders are positioning for a rangebound-to-lower market into the September 29 expiry, not a rebound.

• Crude slides for a fifth day on Hormuz reopening hopes: Crude fell below $91 a barrel — a more-than-two-week low — on reports Iran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz if the US lifts its blockade of Iranian ports, raising hopes of easing supply disruptions through the key waterway.

• Paramount Skydance clears a hurdle for its $110bn WBD deal: Paramount Skydance has cleared a major legal hurdle for its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery after settling with a California-led group of US states and a Hollywood writers union — paving the way for one of the largest media mergers in history.

• Alibaba jumps 5% on a new AI chip and model: Alibaba shares rose 5% after the company said it is developing an AI model up to four times larger than its current flagship and unveiled what it called China's most powerful next-generation AI chip, as Chinese tech firms accelerate domestic alternatives to Nvidia amid tighter US export restrictions.

• Nickel rises on an Indonesian supply threat: Nickel rose to around $16,400 per tonne as an El Niño-driven water shortage threatened to disrupt production at Indonesia's Morowali Industrial Park, potentially affecting around 100,000 tonnes of output — though weak Chinese downstream demand continued to limit gains.

“I think hopefully America will sit down and understand all those issues and, you know, not end up punishing India and the world oil markets while doing what we need to do to combat Russia.”