Wednesday, 21 October 2026. The Nifty gave back a 231.95-point gain and closed 77.60 points (0.34%) lower at 22,811.35, as profit booking, elevated oil prices and fresh tension in the Middle East wore the market down after the holiday, Kotak Neo reported. Brent crude rose toward $111 a barrel on new reports of ships hit near the Strait of Hormuz. The fall was far deeper below the top 50 names: the Nifty Smallcap 100 lost 2.37% and the Midcap 100 1.58%. Information technology went the other way. L&T Technology Services jumped 10.66% after its results and Nifty IT closed 2.88% higher, the only one of the ten sector indices I track to finish in the green.
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Nifty 50 | 22,811.35 | −77.60 pts (−0.34%) |
| Sensex | 73,709.69 | −143.21 pts (−0.19%) |
| Bank Nifty | 54,976.90 | −511.20 pts (−0.92%) |
| Nifty Private Bank | 26,904.35 | −284.75 pts (−1.05%) |
| Nifty Midcap 100 | 57,565.85 | −1.58% |
| Nifty Smallcap 100 | 18,487.30 | −448.45 pts (−2.37%) |
| India VIX | 15.68 | +0.91 (+6.16%) |
Up 1% by 9:45, down 1% by 3 PM
The Nifty opened at 23,016.00, 127.05 points above Monday's close, and kept climbing to the day's high of 23,120.90 in the 9:30 candle, 1.01% above Monday. That was the last of the gains. The index slipped below its opening price in the 9:45 candle, closed the 10 o'clock candle at 22,949.15 and the noon candle at 22,744.40, by which point it was already below Monday's close.
The afternoon was a slow grind lower rather than a sharp drop. The low of 22,649.90 came in the 2:45 PM candle, 239.05 points (1.04%) under Monday's close, giving a full range of 471.00 points. The last half-hour recovered part of it: the index added 72.90 points in the final 15-minute candle and finished 161.45 points off the low. A high in the opening half-hour and a low in the afternoon is a common shape for this index; I counted how often it happens in when the Nifty makes its high and low.
India VIX rose 6.16% to 15.68 after trading between 14.18 and 16.17 (what the VIX measures).
L&T Technology Services' results lifted the whole IT index
L&T Technology Services reported September-quarter revenue of ₹3,040.4 crore, up 3.4% from the June quarter and 12.1% from a year earlier, and net income of ₹548.2 crore, up 53.7% on the quarter and 66.8% on the year, Kotak Neo reported. In dollars, revenue was $317 million. The shares rose as much as 14.72% to ₹4,143 and closed 10.66% higher at ₹3,996.30.
Kotak Neo tied the wider IT rally to the result, to positive outlooks on the sector and to expectations that technology spending was stabilising. Four IT stocks were the Nifty 50's four biggest gainers, two days before Infosys reports its own quarter on Friday. Wipro, which left the index on 30 September (why it was replaced), rose more than any of them, 3.86% to ₹189.17. Nifty IT had been up as much as 2.6% during the session and kept going, closing at 32,422.50, its high of the day.
| Rose most in the Nifty 50 | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Infosys | ₹1,168.00 | +3.30% |
| HCLTech | ₹1,424.20 | +3.21% |
| Tech Mahindra | ₹1,834.70 | +3.13% |
| TCS | ₹2,529.00 | +2.77% |
| UltraTech Cement | ₹10,849.00 | +1.87% |
| Bharti Airtel | ₹1,891.70 | +0.88% |
Bajaj Finance's first session after results: down 3.27%
Bajaj Finance reported on Monday evening after the close, so today was the first chance to trade on the numbers. Consolidated net profit rose 29% to ₹6,367 crore and net interest income 24% to ₹13,335 crore. What the market focused on was a 15 basis-point rise from the June quarter in loans classified as Stage 2 and Stage 3, the overdue and bad buckets, which the company said came mostly from short-tenure gold loans it has since stopped offering, Business Today reported. Its gold loan book is about ₹24,000 crore. Citi analysts also noted the margin dipped 10 to 12 basis points on the quarter, Upstox reported. The shares traded between ₹918.70 and ₹968.80 and closed ₹31.35 lower at ₹926.00, the biggest fall in the Nifty 50. Like Axis Bank on Monday, it was a strong headline profit and a falling share price (why that happens).
Eternal, which reported after today's close, fell 2.45% to ₹312.35 during the session. After the market shut it posted a 92.3% rise in quarterly profit to ₹125 crore and a 77.6% rise in revenue to ₹24,138 crore, Kotak Neo reported; Blinkit added 308 stores in the quarter to reach 2,751. Tomorrow is the first session in which those figures can be traded.
| Fell most in the Nifty 50 | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Bajaj Finance | ₹926.00 | −3.27% |
| BSE | ₹3,248.30 | −2.63% |
| Eternal | ₹312.35 | −2.45% |
| Eicher Motors | ₹7,170.50 | −2.43% |
| Trent | ₹2,822.00 | −2.41% |
| Maruti Suzuki | ₹11,200.00 | −2.40% |
| Adani Enterprises | ₹2,594.50 | −2.37% |
| Shriram Finance | ₹904.95 | −2.33% |
| Axis Bank | ₹1,210.00 | −2.10% |
| Bajaj Auto | ₹10,072.00 | −2.09% |
Three of the ten are carmakers or two-wheeler makers, and Nifty Auto fell 1.54%, but I found no company news for Eicher, Maruti or Bajaj Auto today, nor for BSE. Axis Bank extended Monday's post-results fall.
Smaller companies fell about seven times as far as the Nifty
The Nifty's 0.34% loss hid a much weaker day across the rest of the market. The Smallcap 100 dropped 448.45 points to 18,487.30 and the Midcap 100 lost 1.58% to 57,565.85. Of the ten sector indices I track, every one but IT closed lower, metals and autos most:
| Nifty index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| IT | 32,422.50 | +2.88% |
| Pharma | 25,565.90 | −0.19% |
| PSU Bank | 8,251.50 | −0.51% |
| FMCG | 43,720.70 | −0.58% |
| Financial Services | 24,691.45 | −1.18% |
| Realty | 805.85 | −1.25% |
| Media | 1,622.65 | −1.29% |
| Energy | 35,474.75 | −1.39% |
| Auto | 25,196.65 | −1.54% |
| Metal | 11,859.55 | −1.71% |
The IT heavyweights are what kept the Nifty's loss small: in a broad index of small companies they carry far less weight.
Brent near $111 as ships are hit around Hormuz
Brent crude rose toward $111 a barrel, its highest in five months, Trading Economics reported, after the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency recorded strikes on vessels near Oman and Iranian state media said a supertanker had hit a sea mine in the Strait of Hormuz. Kotak Neo put December Brent futures at $110.77 and WTI at $99.94. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said shipments through the strait were approaching pre-war levels, Trading Economics noted. This morning's pre-market report has the overnight run-up in oil and the state of the US–Iran talks.
Jio Platforms IPO: institutions bid 8.37 times on day one
The Jio Platforms issue was fully subscribed by 10:41 AM, at 1.03 times, IIFL reported, with qualified institutional buyers then at 3.25 times and retail investors at 0.25 times. By the close of bidding, 5paisa showed the institutional book at 8.37 times, non-institutional investors at 1.44 times and the retail portion at 0.66 times (bids for 5.61 crore shares against 8.50 crore reserved for retail). The anchor book, allotted before the issue opened, took 7.25 crore shares worth ₹8,109.85 crore. Two 5paisa pages gave different overall figures for the day, so I have left the combined number out. Bidding runs to Friday at ₹1,065 to ₹1,119 a share.
Flows: Monday's figures only
Today's FII and DII provisional figures were not out when I checked this evening: 5paisa still showed Monday, and NSE's page timed out. On Monday, foreign institutions sold a net ₹1,148.60 crore and domestic institutions bought ₹3,201.20 crore, NSE's provisional data showed. Wednesday's numbers will be in Thursday's pre-market report (how to read FII and DII data).
Swiggy on Thursday, Infosys on Friday
- Thursday, 22 October: Swiggy, Colgate-Palmolive (India), Cyient, Adani Energy Solutions, Adani Total Gas and Chennai Petroleum are among the companies due to report September-quarter results, according to Zee Business. It is also Eternal's first session after its results and Bajaj Finance's second.
- Friday, 23 October: Infosys results; the Jio Platforms IPO closes.
- Monday, 26 October: Jio Platforms allotment.
- Tuesday, 27 October: monthly F&O expiry; the US Federal Reserve's two-day meeting begins.
- Wednesday, 28 October: Jio Platforms' expected listing date.
Before Thursday's open I will be checking Wednesday's FII and DII figures, Brent and any further shipping reports from the Gulf, and the overnight trade in GIFT Nifty. Monday's post-market report has the bank results that preceded the holiday.
Sources
- Index, sector and stock prices, the intraday path and India VIX: Zerodha Kite market data (NSE and BSE)
- Market close, reasons, Brent and WTI futures: Kotak Neo
- L&T Technology Services results and the IT rally: Kotak Neo
- Bajaj Finance: Business Today, Upstox; Eternal results: Kotak Neo
- Brent and shipping: Trading Economics
- Jio Platforms IPO subscription: IIFL, 5paisa
- FII and DII flows: NSE provisional data via 5paisa
- Thursday's results: Zee Business; other dates as in this morning's pre-market report
This note summarises public news and data for information only. It is not investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security, and I don't publish levels, targets or trade ideas. I am not registered with SEBI as an investment adviser or research analyst.