SENSEX, NIFTY50 fall for third straight session as crude tops $112 per barrel

The Indian equity benchmarks fell for a third straight session on Thursday, October 22, as rising crude prices in global markets dented investors' sentiment towards equities.

The SENSEX fell as much as 705 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 22,555 dragged down by losses in index heavyweights like HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Infosys, Eternal, Larsen & Toubro, ITC and Mahindra & Mahindra.

The SENSEX dropped 460 points or 0.62% to close at 73,249 and NIFTY50 index plunged 124 points to settle at 22,688.

Brent crude futures for delivery in December rose as much as 3.54% to hit its highest level in four months of $112.67 per barrel after fresh escalations in the Middle East raised supply disruption fears.

The sharp rally in oil prices was primarily driven by reports that the US could strike Iran post mid-term elections. Reports stated that the US and Iran militaries have developed a short, intensive operation, following next month’s elections in the US.

Besides this, the attacks on US ally Saudi Arabia continue to intensify further. The Houthi rebels from Yemen have struck Saudi Aramco’s Shaybah oil field, killing two workers. This comes days after the rebels struck Saudi’a airport.

In the wake of ongoing escalations and a worsening situation in the Middle East, the US has ordered non-governmental employees and families to leave Saudi Arabia.

12 of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended lower led by the NIFTY Media index's over 2% fall. NIFTY Auto, FMCG, IT, Metal, Consumer Durables and Oil & Gas indices also fell between 0.5% and 1.41%.

On the other hand, select pharma, PSU banking and healthcare shares witnessed buying interest.

Broader markets underperformed their larger peers as NIFTY Midcap 100 index dropped 0.9% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index fell 1.14%.

Among the individual shares, Indian Hotels Company jumped as much as 5.53% to hit a 52-week and intraday high of ₹794.65 per equity share after the hospitality company reported a 22.7% year-on-year (YoY) surge in its consolidated net profit to ₹349.49 crore, as against ₹284.92 crore in the same period last year.

Shares of Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) rallied over 9% on Thursday, as the company reported a decline in its net loss to ₹59.20 crore in Q2 FY27, from a loss of ₹320.82 crore in the year-ago period.

Redington, the official reseller of Apple products in India, rose as much as 3.4% to hit an intraday high of ₹373.85 as Apple’s first foldable iPhone, called iPhone Duo, is set to go on general retail sale in India tomorrow, Friday, October 23, 2026.

Nestle India was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock fell 2.78% to close at ₹1,189 after food regulator FSSAI issued notices to Nestle India and Zydus Wellness over "misleading claims" in certain products and asked the companies to provide scientific proof to support their advertisements.

In a social media post, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) said it has issued notices to Nestle India for misleading claims and non-compliant promotions involving two food products, 'Lactogen Pro 1 Powder' and 'Nan Excella Pro Stage 1'.

Eternal, HDFC Life, Tata Motors PV, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Bharat Electronics, Adani Enterprises, Trent, Power Grid, Asian Paints, Infosys and Coal India also fell between 1.2% and 2.5%.

On the flip side, Bajaj Finance, Cipla, Ultratech Cement, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma, State Bank of India, BSE, Grasim and Bharti Airtel were top gainers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was extremely negative as 2,512 shares ended lower while 1,026 ended higher on the NSE.