SENSEX drops over 1,250 points from day's high, NIFTY50 tests 22,400 as crude tops $114

The Indian equity benchmarks erased early gains on Friday, October 23, as sentiment turned negative tracking a surge in crude prices in global markets.

The SENSEX fell as much as 1,279 points from the day's highest level and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 22,407 after hitting a high of 22,787 dragged down by losses in index heavyweights like HDFC Bank, Tata Steel, Titan, State Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, NTPC and Adani Ports.

As of 10:44 am, the SENSEX was down 362 points at 72,887 and NIFTY50 index dropped 172 points to 22,515.

Investor sentiment turned negative as surging crude prices stoked fears that spiralling inflation would adversely affect margins of Indian companies going ahead.

Brent crude futures surged as much as 1.35% to a fresh 5-month high of $114.7 per barrel due to concern of further energy supply disruption after Houthi attacks ‌on top exporter Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Aramco on Thursday ordered the evacuation of its headquarters in Dhahran on the Gulf near Bahrain, Reuters reported, as fighting intensified between the world's largest crude exporter and Yemen-based Houthis.

Clashes between the Houthis and a Saudi-led coalition that backs Yemen's internationally recognised government have raged since the Iran-aligned Houthis pushed towards Bab el-Mandeb, a shipping chokepoint at the mouth of ‌the ⁠Red Sea.

Asian markets were trading lower tracking a surge in crude prices and a selloff in technology shares. Japan's Nikkei dropped 2%, China's Shanghai Composite fell 2.13%, Hing Kong's Hang Seng index slipped 0.45% and South Korea's KOSPI fell 2.5%.

Overnight, US shares ended lower on Thursday dragged down by a selloff in artificial-intelligence stocks while oil surged to its highest level since May.

All major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE), barring the measure of IT shares, were trading lower led by the NIFTY Metal index's over 1% fall. NIFTY Consumer Durables, PSU Bank, Media, Auto, Bank and Financial Services indices also declined between 0.2% and 1%.

On the other hand, IT shares were witnessing buying interest as anti AI trade played out following a sharp selloff in AI related shares overnight. The NIFTY IT index jumped over 2%.

Broader markets were witnessing intense selling pressure as NIFTY Midcap 100 index dropped 0.83% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index plunged 1.25%.

However, sequentially, the company’s loss expanded from ₹791 crore in the first quarter of FY27, according to a regulatory filing.

Its revenue from operations surged 36.14% YoY to ₹7,571 crore during the quarter under review, compared with ₹5,561 crore in the July-September quarter of the 2025-26 fiscal year (Q2 FY26).

Hindalco was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock fell 1.94% to ₹868. Tata Steel, Eicher Motors, Adani Enterprises, Titan, Tata Motors PV, HDFC Life, Adani Ports, Mahindra & Mahindra, Coal India, Power Grid and Jio Financial Services also fell between 1% and 1.8%.

On the flip side, TCS, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Apollo Hospitals, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, Reliance Industries and Tata Consumer Products were top gainers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was extremely negative as 2,446 shares were falling while 609 were advancing on the NSE.

Disclaimer: This article is written purely for informational purposes and should not be considered investment advice from Upstox. Securities mentioned are illustrative and not recommendations. Please consult a financial advisor before making any investment decisions.