A year of quiet days and one loud month
The Nifty 50 has traded for 177 sessions in 2026 to Monday 21 September. On 42 of them it moved by more than 1% from the previous close, and on 8 by more than 2%.
A third of those big days came in a single month. In March, 14 of 19 sessions moved by more than 1%, and five by more than 2%. In August, one session did.
The index closed at 23,414.30 on Monday, 11.07% below its record close of 26,328.55 on 2 January. All figures are daily changes in NSE's closing price for the Nifty 50, without dividends.
The ten worst days
| Date | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 19 Mar | 23,002.15 | −3.26% |
| 23 Mar | 22,512.65 | −2.60% |
| 30 Mar | 22,331.40 | −2.14% |
| 8 Jul | 23,882.05 | −2.12% |
| 27 Mar | 22,819.60 | −2.09% |
| 13 Mar | 23,151.10 | −2.06% |
| 12 May | 23,379.55 | −1.83% |
| 9 Mar | 24,028.05 | −1.73% |
| 11 Mar | 23,866.85 | −1.63% |
| 4 Mar | 24,480.50 | −1.55% |
Eight of the ten fell in March. The other two, 8 July and 12 May, were one-off falls in otherwise calm months. The worst of the year, 19 March, came straight after three days of gains.
The ten best days
| Date | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 8 Apr | 23,997.35 | +3.78% |
| 3 Feb | 25,727.55 | +2.55% |
| 12 Jun | 23,622.90 | +1.99% |
| 24 Mar | 22,912.40 | +1.78% |
| 25 Mar | 23,306.45 | +1.72% |
| 15 Apr | 24,231.30 | +1.63% |
| 3 Aug | 24,774.30 | +1.60% |
| 1 Apr | 22,679.40 | +1.56% |
| 25 May | 24,031.70 | +1.32% |
| 6 May | 24,330.95 | +1.24% |
The best days sit close to the worst. Five of the ten came in the three weeks from 24 March to 15 April, right around the year's low of 22,331.40 on 30 March. The single best day of the year, 8 April, came five sessions after the low.
This year, at least, the largest rises came in the middle of the fall or just after it, which would have made them easy to miss for anyone who had stepped aside.
Month by month
| Month | Sessions | Up days | Moves over 1% | Moves over 2% | Average size of a day's move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 20 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0.48% |
| Feb | 20 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 0.68% |
| Mar | 19 | 8 | 14 | 5 | 1.54% |
| Apr | 20 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 0.95% |
| May | 19 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 0.61% |
| Jun | 21 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0.56% |
| Jul | 23 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 0.56% |
| Aug | 21 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0.37% |
| Sep (to 21st) | 14 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0.42% |
The average move in March was more than three times January's, and four times August's.
September is not March
The Nifty 50 is falling again. From its post-March high of 24,774.30 on 3 August it had dropped 6.68% by 15 September, and it closed Monday 5.49% below that high. Since the end of August alone it is down 2.77%.
But the shape could hardly be more different:
- March: 11.31% lost between 27 February and 30 March, in 19 sessions. 14 of them moved more than 1%, and eight of the year's ten worst days fell in that month.
- September so far: 2.77% lost in 14 sessions. Only one, 15 September (−1.19%), moved more than 1%. The rest were small steps, mostly down: eight of the first ten sessions closed lower.
The longest losing streak of the year is also recent: seven sessions in a row, from 11 to 19 August.
A slow slide and a sharp one can end up at similar levels. They just feel very different on the way.
What this does not tell you
Daily moves don't predict the next one. A calm month can turn, and a month of big days can be followed by quiet. Nothing here says where the index goes from 23,414.30.
Price only. These are moves in the price index, without dividends, which make no difference on any one day.
We have no news in this data. We can say when the big days happened, not why. None of this is advice to buy or sell anything.
Where to go from here
The Nifty 50 returns calculator measures the index between any two dates. For March's fall, see the Nifty 50 down 15% from its record and, for the best of those days, the Nifty's biggest one-day rise.
For the longer view of how often the index has lost money, see Nifty 50 rolling returns, and for nerves, the psychology of a market crash.
Frequently asked questions
What was the Nifty 50's biggest one-day fall in 2026?
On closing prices to 21 September 2026, the Nifty 50's biggest one-day fall of the year was 3.26%, on 19 March 2026, when it closed at 23,002.15. The next largest were 2.60% on 23 March and 2.14% on 30 March.
What was the Nifty 50's best day in 2026?
8 April 2026, when the index rose 3.78% to close at 23,997.35. The second best was 3 February, up 2.55%, and the third 12 June, up 1.99%.
Is the September 2026 fall like March's?
Not in how it has happened. From 27 February to 30 March the Nifty 50 fell 11.31%, and 14 of those 19 sessions moved by more than 1%. From 31 August to 21 September it fell 2.77%, with only one session, 15 September, moving more than 1%.
This is commentary on published data, not investment advice. WealthTicker is not a SEBI-registered adviser or distributor. Figures are WealthTicker’s own calculations from public data — AMFI’s fund NAVs and disclosures, NSE’s index and FII/DII files, and the fund houses’ monthly portfolios (how we calculate). They are as of the dates stated and can be revised by their source.
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