Stock Market Open Report Today, September 24, 2026: Markets Open Sharply Lower as US-Iran Standoff, Wall Street Rout Hit Sentiment

Mumbai, Sept 24: Indian share market opened with heavy losses on Thursday after recovering on Wednesday. The Sensex lost 527.98 points i.e. 0.71 per cent to stand at 74,300.27 and the Nifty declined 182.05 points i.e. 0.78 per cent to trade at 23,264.75 as of 9.35 am IST.  

The losses were due to the negative cues from Asian bourses and Wall Street trading at steep losses overnight. Investors turned cautious as the war with Iran took another turn after a senior Iranian official stated that the country is still far away from an end to the war with the US and that they will have to keep talking.  

President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran addressed the UN General Assembly on Wednesday and said that Iran would never bow to the pressure from the US. This came a day after US president Donald Trump had said that he would annihilate Iran during his speech at the UN. With the clashing statements from both sides and the first round of shuttle diplomacy, investors are worried about where the war is heading and if there will be any impact on the oil supplies.  

Almost all the stocks opened in the red as banking, information technology and a few insurance companies led the losses. There were a few stocks which opened higher but the overall sentiment was negative across all market caps.  

Gainers & Losers 

Here are the top five gainers as of now: Tech Mahindra (NSE:TECHM) is up 0.73 per cent to trade at Rs 1,568.3 which was last traded at Rs 1,557 on Wednesday. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (NSE: SUNPHARMA) is up 0.43 per cent to trade at Rs 1,873.1 which was last traded at Rs 1,865. HCL Technologies (NSE: HCLTECH) is up 0.37 per cent to trade at Rs 1,261.4 which was last traded at Rs 1,256.7. ICICI Bank (NSE: ICICIBANK) is up 0.16 per cent to trade at Rs 1,342.1 which was last traded at Rs 1,340. And SBI Life Insurance (NSE: SBILIFE) is up 0.09 per cent to trade at Rs 1,761.5 which was last traded at Rs 1,760. On the losing side, HDFC Life Insurance (NSE:HDFCLIFE) is down 6.97 per cent to trade at Rs 522.35 which was last traded at Rs 561.5. Bajaj Finance (NSE: BAJFINANCE) is down 4.27 per cent to trade at Rs 998.7 which was last traded at Rs 1,043.2. Axis Bank (NSE: AXISBANK) is down 3.56 per cent to trade at Rs 1,198.9 which was last traded at Rs 1,243.2. Bajaj Finserv (NSE: BAJAJFINSV) is down 3.15 per cent to trade at Rs 1,788.4 which was last traded at Rs 1,846.5. And Kotak Mahindra Bank (NSE: KOTAKBANK) is down 1.77 per cent to trade at Rs 405.95 which was last traded at Rs 413.25.  

Broad Market and Sectoral Indices 

Most of the broad market and sector indices opened in the red as well. The Nifty 100 declined by 0.80 per cent and the Nifty 500 decreased by 0.80 per cent while the Nifty Midcap 100 went down 1.02 per cent.  

Among sector indices, Nifty Bank is down 1.50 per cent. Nifty IT is the only sector that opened higher as it is up 0.34 per cent and Nifty Pharma is marginally up 0.07 per cent.  

Iran War 

The Middle East conflict remained the dominant overhang for global sentiment. Iran and the United States remain far apart on how to end their war, though diplomacy must continue, a senior Iranian official told Reuters, after Pezeshkian vowed Tehran would never surrender to US pressure. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a deal would involve hard work over time and that Trump also had military options on the table. In the latest sign of the war’s toll on shipping, Britain’s UKMTO maritime security agency reported that a cargo ship had been hit by projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz, with two crew casualties. 

Asian & US Markets 

Asian stock markets are trading in the red on Thursday. Hang Seng is down 0.39 per cent to 24,738.29 and Chinese markets are down. Shenzhen and Shanghai are down 1.35 and 0.59 per cent respectively. Australian ASX is down 0.68 per cent and Taiwan is down 0.51 per cent. The Nikkei index in Japan is trading 1.33 per cent higher at 65,883.41.  

US markets ended lower on Wednesday. The Nasdaq 100 closed 0.85 per cent lower and the Russell 2000 ended 1.77 per cent lower. The NYSE was down 0.75 per cent and the Dow Transport Average ended 0.74 per cent lower. 

Oil Prices  

Oil prices traded in the red on Thursday as the war continues in Iran. Brent crude is trading at USD 102.23 which is 0.82 per cent lower and WTI crude is down 0.75 per cent at USD 91.47. Murban crude is trading at a higher level of USD 113.08 which is up 4.06 per cent. Natural gas is also up 0.86 per cent at USD 3.049.  

Indian markets had closed in green on Wednesday. The Sensex rose 299.17 points i.e. 0.40 per cent to end at 74,828.27 and the Nifty gained 117.80 points i.e. 0.50 per cent to close at 23,446.80. Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, ITC, UltraTech Cement, Power Grid Corp and L&T topped the gainers while HCLTech, Infosys, TCS, Titan and M&M were the laggards. FIIs sold stocks worth Rs 3,809.99 crore on Tuesday. The upgrade of FY27 GDP growth to 7 per cent by Asian Development Bank was a positive factor in Wednesday’s market movement.

Sources

• NSE
• BSE
• https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hope-progress-after-us-iran-hold-first-shuttle-talks-months-2026-09-23/
• https://www.cnbc.com/markets/us-markets/
• https://oilprice.com/oil-price-charts/