Nifty tumbles below 23,100; closes at three-month low

Financial stocks lead the fall on IRDAI’s proposed commission overhaul

Sep 24, 2026

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Markets Today

Nifty opened with a sharp 225-point gap down at 23,221, led by weakness in financial stocks, particularly insurance distribution players following IRDAI’s proposed overhaul of commission structures, along with weak global cues. The index attempted a quick recovery after the open, climbing towards 23,270, but the bounce failed to sustain. Selling resumed soon after, with Nifty slipping towards 23,215 before spending much of the first half oscillating in the 23,215–23,245 zone.

The weakness gradually intensified after noon, with Nifty drifting below 23,200 and then falling more sharply after 1:30 PM. The index slipped below 23,150 and eventually touched an intraday low near 23,050 around 2 PM. A recovery attempt followed, taking Nifty back above 23,100, but the bounce again lost momentum. The index remained under pressure through the final hour and eventually closed near the day’s lower levels at 23,063.10, around 160 points below its opening level, capping a weak session dominated by financial-sector selling.

Fear & Greed Index

The Fear & Greed Index dropped sharply from 43 to 27, moving deeper into fear. Weak new highs versus lows, defensive stocks outperforming and bonds beating equities weighed on sentiment.

Market Breadth

Selling was broad, with 1,821 decliners versus 473 advancers. Only 29.9% of Nifty 500 stocks remained above their 50-day average, while 52-week lows outnumbered highs 24 to 4.

52 Week Highs & Lows

Sectoral Indices Performance

All 15 sectors fell, with IT (-0.44%) holding up best and Financial Services (-2.39%) falling the most. Pharma and Healthcare remain the strongest longer-term sectors, while eight sectors are below all four key moving averages.

Winners & Losers

PB Fintech plunged 36% on 21× usual volume, with financial stocks occupying all five worst F&O slots. AIA Engineering saw the biggest delivery spike, while PB Fintech also recorded the sharpest jump in implied volatility.

Delivery Data

Global Markets

Commodities

Institutional Flows & Participant Positioning

FIIs remained heavily short with just 11% of index-futures positions long.

Thematic Indices

Tijori’s niche indices, where today’s move sorts pockets of the market beyond standard sector baskets. You can also track promoter buying and other interesting stuff, like Capex activity by the companies in the Tijori App’s idea dashboard

F&O Corner

Options price a roughly 253-point move either way into September 29 expiry, while implied volatility jumped from 8.8% to 11.7%. Heavy call writing pushed PCR down from 1.03 to 0.81.

Management Chatter

In this section, we highlight interesting comments from management at major companies and from policymakers in the Indian and Global Economies.

NSE MD and CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan on impact of weekly options & SEBI measures on company’s business:

“Today, our total revenues on the operating side, if you get 100 income, around Rs 42 comes out of weekly options only. Rs 58 comes from other sources, which includes monthly options, futures,”
“Three years back when this started, our sort of revenues will go down 30%, 40% given the strength of newer, newer sort of measures that were coming, and it went down by 3% or 2% last year,” - Link

The week ahead & Corporate Actions

Corporate Actions

Published by Zerodha. Not investment advice. Data from NSE, BSE, and MCX.

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