SENSEX drops over 700 points, NIFTY50 below 22,600 dragged down by IT shares

The Indian equity benchmarks staged a gap down opening on Wednesday, October 28, on the back of a broad-based selling pressure after crude oil traded above $115 per barrel.

The SENSEX dropped as much as 762 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 22,559 dragged down by losses in Infosys, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, ITC and HCL Technologies.

As of 9:21 am, the SENSEX was down 706 points or 1% at 72,892 and NIFTY50 index dropped 137 points to 22,610.

Asian markets were trading higher on optimism over artificial intelligence ahead of earnings from Microsoft, Amazon, Intel and other major tech companies and the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision.

Japan's Nikkei rose 1.44%, China's Shanghai Composite index gained 0.31%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index advanced 0.16% and South Korea's KOSPI index surged 6.12%.

Overnight, US stocks ended higher on Tuesday powered by gains in Nvidia. Tech heavy Nasdaq index jumped 1.18%, Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.03% and S&P 500 index rose 0.6%.

Brent crude futures for delivery in December rose 1.25% to trade above $115 per barrel after Iran-backed Houthis claimed a missile attack on Saudi Arabia's largest oil refinery, raising concerns about oil supply from the region.

Back home, selling pressure was broad-based as all 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE), barring the measure of auto stocks, were trading lower led by the NIFTY IT index's 3.3% fall. NIFTY FMCG, Metal, Bank, Financial Services, Pharma, PSU Bank, Realty, Healthcare, Consumer Durables and Oil & Gas indices also fell between 0.5% and 1.35%.

Broader markets were trading on a mixed note as NIFTY Midcap 100 index declined 0.5% while NIFTY Smallcap 100 index was trading on a flat note.

Among the individual shares, United Breweries jumped 15% to an intraday high of ₹1,316 a day after it reported its September quarter earnings.

The company's net sales growth of 24% exceeded volume growth by 8 percentage points, reflecting accelerated premiumisation and disciplined revenue management, the company said in an exchange filing.

Piramal Pharma jumped 13% after it reported a net profit of ₹5 crore in the second quarter against a loss of ₹99 crore in the same period last year.

Infosys was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock dropped 4.66% to ₹1,108. HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consumer Products, TCS, ONGC, ITC, Nestle, Bajaj Finserv and ICICI Bank also fell between 1.8% and 3.2%.

On the flip side, Larsen & Toubro was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock jumped 5% to ₹3,848 after it reported a 33% jump in its consolidated net profit at ₹5,202 crore for the quarter ending September 30 of the financial year 2026-27. The infrastructure major had seen a profit of ₹3,926 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year.

L&T’s revenue from operations for the quarter under review was at ₹78,750 crore, marking a growth of 16% from ₹67,984 crore reported in the second quarter of FY26.

Bajaj Auto, apollo Hospitals, SBI Life, Maruti Suzuki, State Bank of India, Trent, IndiGo, Hindalco, Max Healthcare and Eicher Motors were also among top gainers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was negative as 1,707 shares were declining while 1,216 were advancing on the NSE.