The Indian stock market benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty 50, are expected to open flat on Tuesday, September 15, as indicated by Gift Nifty.
Investors are likely to see domestic stocks start on a cautious note after global equities faced a sharp sell-off in Monday’s trade, dragged by weakness in AI-related stocks after leading artificial intelligence companies raised concerns over the rapid advancement of the technology.
Meanwhile, rising tensions in the Middle East have raised further concerns over crude oil supplies, which have remained under pressure over the past six months. The US Federal Reserve’s policy decision on Wednesday will be another key event that could shape domestic and global markets.
Last week, the Indian stock market closed in the red, extending its weekly losing streak to five weeks and marking the first such instance in a year. The benchmarks started the week on a weak note and maintained that bias for most of the period. Consequently, the Sensex declined 2.27% to close at 74,781.76, while the Nifty fell 2.09% to settle at 23,398.10.
Broader markets also remained under pressure, with the midcap index declining 1.40% and the smallcap index falling 0.88%. Sustained losses in the Nifty 50 have dragged the index down 10.50% so far in 2026, while the Sensex has declined 12.24%.
The performance has placed both indices among the worst-performing Asian benchmarks and put them on course for their first annual decline in a decade.
Gift Nifty was trading flat at the 23,438 level after swinging over 100 points during the session.
Can Nifty hold the crucial 23,000–23,300 support zone?
Ajit Mishra, SVP, Research at Religare Broking, said the Nifty 50 witnessed significant selling pressure during the week and closed at 23,398, extending its corrective phase for the fifth consecutive week.
Mishra said the 23,000–23,100 zone will be a critical support area. A decisive break below this zone could trigger a further decline towards the 22,400 level. On the upside, Mishra said 23,600 will act as an immediate hurdle, while the 23,900–24,200 zone is likely to act as a major resistance area during the week.
Hariselvan Radhakrishnan, Founder & CEO of HST Wealth, said the Nifty 50 remains below all its key daily moving averages and has repeatedly tested the 23,300 region since March without decisively breaking it. He said the 23,000 level has also continued to attract buying interest, making the 23,000–23,300 band the market’s most important defensive zone.
On the weekly chart, Radhakrishnan said the index has reached its lower Bollinger Band, while weekly RSI readings for both the Nifty and Bank Nifty remain in neutral territory. According to him, this suggests that the market is under pressure but has not yet reached an extreme oversold condition.
Radhakrishnan said a hold above 23,000–23,300 could encourage short covering and selective bargain buying, but a sustainable recovery will require the Nifty to reclaim 23,600 with broader market participation. Until that happens, he said rallies are likely to remain vulnerable to selling.
Will Asian markets find support after the AI-led sell-off?
All major Asian markets closed lower, with shares in South Korea and Japan leading the losses. South Korea’s Kospi fell 3.3% to 6,684.37, dragged lower by chipmakers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, both of which lost more than 4%.
The Nikkei 225, which tracks the performance of 225 highly capitalised and liquid publicly listed Japanese companies, fell 0.9% to 63,492, extending its losing streak to a second day after a 2% crash in the previous session.
Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.7%, while shares of the country’s leading AI chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., declined 1.2%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.4% to 24,904.46, while the Shanghai Composite edged down less than 0.1% to 3,885.33.
South Korean, Taiwanese and Japanese chip and technology companies, seen as the picks and shovels of the AI boom, are now in the spotlight as investors assess the risk of slower AI-related spending.
High-valuation shares remain vulnerable to signs of weaker returns or slower spending, though some investors expect any pullback to be short-lived as demand for computing infrastructure remains strong.
Anthropic Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei said on Saturday that the company would introduce additional safeguards, including independent third-party evaluations, and urged the broader industry to slow the development of its most advanced models. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman backed the proposal, while xAI’s Elon Musk said, “Dario is right.”
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