समाचार Samāchār · Business · 9 November 2026

State banks carry the Nifty past 25,000. IT slips as money rotates away from the AI trade

The Sensex closed at 81,106.65 and the Nifty at 25,044.65 on Monday. PSU banks rose more than 3%. IT was the weakest sector. Markets are shut on Tuesday for Balipratipada.

The first full session of Samvat 2083 closed higher. The gains were narrow. The Sensex ended Monday at 81,106.65, up 107.25 points or 0.13%. The Nifty 50 closed at 25,044.65, up 58.25 points or 0.23%. HDFC Sky reports these are the highest closes for both indices since 27 February. Business Standard called it a volatile trade. Both indices recovered from intraday losses.

State-owned banks did the lifting. The Nifty PSU Bank index rose 3.7%, according to HDFC Sky. Business Standard puts the gain at more than 3%. SBI was the top Nifty gainer, up about 2.6%. Trent, NTPC, L&T and Nestle India followed. Pharma rose 1.65%. On the other side, the Nifty IT index fell about 1.2% and was the weakest sector of the day. HCL Technologies, Tata Steel and UltraTech Cement were among the biggest drags.

The breadth tells the real story. HDFC Sky counts 2,316 declining stocks on the NSE against 1,922 advancing. The Smallcap 100 rose just 0.10%. Easing crude prices and foreign buying carried the large caps. HDFC Sky reports that foreign investors have bought more than $4.1 billion of Indian equities so far in November. It cites a shift away from AI-linked investments as one driver. Vinod Nair of Geojit told Business Standard that investors now await India and US inflation data for cues on interest rates.

Markets are closed on Tuesday for Diwali Balipratipada and reopen on Wednesday. The read for builders is plain. Money is returning to India. It is going to companies with strong balance sheets and visible earnings. Services exporters in IT are being asked to show how AI adds to their revenue, not subtracts from it. That is a question every Indian services company should be ready to answer.

What a founder takes from it: The index rose but most stocks fell. Capital is choosing balance sheets and earnings, not themes. Founders raising or listing in the months ahead should expect the same selectivity.