Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty recovered most of their early losses on Monday as buying in State Bank of India and Reliance Industries, and fresh foreign fund inflows countered the decline in Axis Bank and HDFC Bank.
The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 470.50 points to 74,318 in early trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty was down 147.10 points to 22,999.05.
Later, both the benchmarks bounced back. The BSE benchmark traded 46.49 points lower at 74,682.78. The Nifty quoted 14.55 points lower at 23,131.60.
From the 30 Sensex firms, Axis Bank declined over 4 per cent despite the private sector lender reporting a 39.4 per cent rise in its consolidated net profit to Rs 7,704.67 crore for the second quarter of 2026-27, supported by higher core income and improvement in asset quality.
HDFC Bank, Infosys, Bajaj Finserv, Hindustan Unilever and Trent were also among the major laggards.
State Bank of India, UltraTech Cement, Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, Adani Ports and HCL Tech were among the biggest gainers.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers on Friday after days of relentless selling. They bought equities worth Rs 1,165.92 crore, according to exchange data.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, traded 1.90 per cent lower at USD 107.8 per barrel.
In Asian markets, South Korea’s Kospi and Shanghai’s SSE Composite index traded in positive territory, while Japan’s 225 index quoted lower.
The US markets ended lower on Friday. The Nasdaq Composite tanked 2.14 per cent, S&P 500 was down 1.09 per cent and Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.34 per cent.
On Friday, the Sensex climbed 413.66 points, or 0.56 per cent, to settle at 74,729.27. The Nifty was up 148.80 points, or 0.65 per cent, to end at 23,146.15.
Published: Monday, 19 October 2026 | 6:02 PM IST