Nifty snaps 8-day gains; realty index climbs

The domestic equity benchmarks ended with minor losses today as investors remained cautious ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy meeting, where the central bank is expected to resume its easing cycle. Market sentiment was also supported by hopes of progress in India’s trade talks with the United States. The Nifty settled below the 25,100 level. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, declined 118.96 points or 0.15% to 81,785.74. The Nifty 50 index shed 44.80 points or 0.18% to 25,069.20. The Nifty gained 2.17% over the last eight trading sessions, while the Sensex jumped 1.48% during its five trading sessions. The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.40% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.66%. The market breadth was positive. The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, added 2.71% to 10.40. Among the sectoral indices, the Nifty Realty index (up 2.41%), the Nifty PSU Bank index (up 0.60%) and the Nifty Oil & Gas index (up 0.30%) outperformed the Nifty 50 index. Meanwhile, the Nifty Pharma index (down 0.64%), the Nifty IT index (down 0.58%) and the Nifty Healthcare index (down 0.55%) underperformed the Nifty 50 index. Economy: The Indian government has released the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) data for August 2025, which showed that wholesale inflation rose to 0.52%, marking a return to positive territory after two consecutive months of deflation. In July, wholesale inflation had dropped to a two-year low of -0.58%, while in June, it stood at -0.13%, the lowest in 20 months. The government attributed the positive WPI inflation in August to rising prices in several categories, including food products, non-food articles, other manufacturing items, non-metallic mineral products, and transport equipment, among others. India’s forex reserves were up by $4.03 billion to $698.2 6billion in week ending September 5, according to the data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday. For the week ended September 5, foreign currency assets (FCAs), the largest component of the reserves, were up by $0.54 billion to $584.47 billion, the RBI data showed. Gold reserves were up by $3.53 billion, standing at $90.29 billion during the reporting week. Meanwhile, SDRs in the last week were down by $34 million to reach at $18.74 billion. Numbers to Track: The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper rose 0.20% to 6.496 from the previous close of 6.483. In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 88.2000 compared with its close of 88.2600 during the previous trading session. MCX Gold futures for 3 October 2025 settlement shed 0.32% to Rs 109,015. The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was down 0.13% to 97.42. The United States 10-year bond yield rose 0.22% to 4.068. In the commodities market, Brent crude for November 2025 settlement rose 67 cents or 0.12% to $67.07 a barrel. Global Market: European shares traded higher on Monday, supported by gains in bank stocks, as investors prepared for a crucial week of central bank meetings, including the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy decision. Asia market ended mixed as investors kept an eye on the talks between the U.S. and China in Spain, and assessed a slate of data from Beijing. As per reports, U.S. and Chinese officials began talks in Madrid Sunday to discuss key national security, economic, and trade issues, including the upcoming deadline to divest Chinese short video app TikTok and U.S. tariffs. South Korea’s Kospi index rose in early trade to a record high on Monday after Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol said that the government will scrap its previous plan to raise taxes on stock investments. In China, retail sales last month rose 3.4% from a year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Monday, slowing from July’s 3.7% growth. As per reports, the industrial output growth slowed to 5.2% in August, compared to the 5.7% jump in July, marking its weakest level since August 2024. Fixed-asset investment, reported on a year-to-date basis, expanded just 0.5%, a sharp slowdown from the 1.6% expansion in the January to July period. Within that segment, the contraction in real estate investment worsened, slumping 12.9% in the first eight months, government data reportedly showed. The major U.S. stock indexes finished mixed on Friday but still posted weekly gains ahead of next Wednesday's interest rate decision from the Federal Reserve. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) rose 0.4% Friday to close at a record high and finish the week 2% higher. The S&P 500 (SPX) dipped 0.1% to post a weekly gain of 1.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) fell 0.6% but closed the week up 1%.