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Markets recover slightly but continue to trade lower in late afternoon session
Oct-23-2026

Indian equity markets staged slight recovery in late afternoon session, supported by value buying at lower levels. However, the recover fell short as higher crude oil prices spurred inflationary concerns. The Brent crude oil prices were surged past the $113 a barrel mark amid escalating tensions in West Asia. Further, investors remained cautious as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued to pullout capital from Indian markets. Meanwhile, traders overlooked the HSBC Flash India PMI data indicating India's private sector business activity signalled continued growth in October 2026, supported by stronger new orders and easing inflationary pressures.

While both Sensex and Nifty were trading lower, Nifty underperformed Sensex with loss of 0.53% amid broad base selling across sectors. On the global front, Asian equity markets were trading mostly in green despite negative cues from Wall Street overnight. European equity markets were trading lower amid surge in crude oil prices.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 72968.40, down by 280.99 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 72452.37 and 73766.51. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods down by 2.73%, Power down by 2.47%, Realty down by 2.46%, Utilities down by 2.41% and Consumer Durables down by 2.30%. Meanwhile, there were no gainers on BSE sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Eternal up by 3.43%, Infosys up by 1.32%, TCS up by 1.29%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.28% and Reliance Industries up by 0.86%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.27%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 2.70%, Titan Company down by 2.44%, Trent down by 2.33% and Bharat Electronics down by 2.29% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India's private sector business activity signalled continued growth in October 2026, supported by stronger new orders and easing inflationary pressures. According to the data report, the HSBC Flash India PMI Composite Output Index - a seasonally adjusted index that measures the month-on-month change in the combined output of India's manufacturing and service sectors - rose to 56.7 in October from final reading of 55.9 in September, pointing to a marked monthly expansion of business activity and one that was the fastest since June.

As per the report, improving market conditions and greater new order volumes supported the rise in output. The rate of expansion in new business also quickened in October, with total new orders supported by the fastest rise in new business from abroad in six months. Despite the sharper rises in output and new orders, companies in India were more cautious around hiring decisions in October. In fact, employment increased only marginally and at the slowest pace in the year-to-date. Services staffing levels were unchanged, ending a nine-month sequence of job creation, while manufacturing workforce numbers rose slightly. 

The slowdown in job creation in the manufacturing sector caused the HSBC Flash India Manufacturing PMI to tick down to 54.9 in October from 55.1 in September. However, HSBC Flash India Services PMI Business Activity Index rose to 56.2 in October from September’s final reading of 55.2. Looking to the future, companies in India remained optimistic that business activity will increase over the coming year amid expectations that market conditions will continue to strengthen. Business confidence improved to the highest since May, but was still below the average seen during 2026 so far. Optimism strengthened across both manufacturing and services.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22566.60, down by 121.05 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 22372.00 and 22787.25. There were 11 stocks advancing against 39 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eternal up by 4.02%, Apollo Hospital Enterprise up by 1.66%, TCS up by 1.13%, Infosys up by 0.52% and Larsen & Toubro up by 0.52%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.84%, JIO Financial Services down by 2.75%, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles down by 2.48%, Trent down by 2.37% and Nestle India down by 2.27% were the top losers.

Asian equity markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 169.32 points or 0.73% to 23,104.00, KOSPI increased 16.53 points or 0.3% to 5,550.30, Straits Times rose 1.41 points or 0.03% to 5,416.55, Shanghai Composite strengthened 32.45 points or 0.88% to 3,690.48 and Jakarta Composite gained 48.34 points or 0.89% to 5,436.25, while Nikkei 225 slipped 320.84 points or 0.51% to 62,587.00. Meanwhile, Taiwanese market remained close on account of holiday.

European equity markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 60 points or 0.56% to 10,665.03, France’s CAC fell 58.96 points or 0.75% to 7,752.30 and Germany’s DAX lost 192.65 points or 0.76% to 25,179.10.
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