Nifty 50 rises 0.68%, ending four-session losing streak
Key Facts
India’s Nifty 50 closed up 0.68% on Monday, October 26, while the Sensex rose 0.66%, ending the session higher after four consecutive declines. Investing.com said gains in metals, oil and gas, and capital goods led shares higher. The advance came as business activity data showed private-sector growth accelerated in October. But market indicators did not all move in the same direction: the India VIX rose to its highest level in three months. The session came ahead of Indian industrial production data due on October 28.
Dr Reddy’s Laboratories was among the biggest gainers in the Nifty 50, rising 6.82% during the session. JSW Steel climbed 4.85%, and Max Healthcare advanced 2.94%. On the other side, Shriram Finance fell 4.80%, the biggest decline among the stocks cited in the report. Tata Consumer Products dropped 3.00%. Across the broader market on the National Stock Exchange of India, 1470 shares rose against 1201 that fell, while 45 were unchanged.
Despite gains in the main indexes, the India VIX rose 1.57% to 17.13 points, its highest level in three months, according to Investing.com. The index measures market volatility expectations, so its increase reflected continued investor demand for hedging during a session of gains. This coincided with a broader advance in shares on the National Stock Exchange of India, although the number of decliners also remained high. Share movements showed a clear divergence across sectors and companies, with metals, oil and gas, and capital goods leading. The report did not link the sectors’ gains to any particular move in global energy prices.
In October business activity data, the HSBC Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 56.7 points from 55.9 in September, exceeding the median forecast of 56.1 points in a Reuters poll. The improvement was driven mainly by services, with its activity index rising to 56.2 points from 55.2. By contrast, the manufacturing index fell to 54.9 points from 55.1 the previous month. The readings show private-sector activity growth accelerated, while manufacturing momentum eased slightly. The initial draft had attributed beating or missing expectations to the services and manufacturing readings, but the published comparison with forecasts applies to the composite index alone.
HSBC said demand strengthened, but employment in the services sector was unchanged, ending a nine-month run of job growth. Overall export orders also expanded at their fastest pace in six months, although the improvement was concentrated among goods producers. The report noted weaker growth in services export orders compared with the improvement among goods producers. These details add a more mixed picture to the rise in the composite index: stronger activity and orders, offset by a halt in services employment growth and a slight decline in the manufacturing index. The session report did not draw a direct link between the purchasing managers’ data and gains in Indian shares.
On investment flows, WisdomTree said foreign institutional investors had withdrawn about 28 billion dollars from Indian shares since the start of 2026 through October 21. Domestic institutions, by contrast, bought about 69 billion dollars in shares over the same period. This divergence between foreign and domestic flows provides broader context for market movements, as Monday’s advance ended the index’s losing streak. Attention is set to turn after the session to September industrial production data, due on October 28. Published forecasts point to industrial production growth of 7.4% year on year and manufacturing output growth of 8.6%.