Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty ended lower by over half a percent on Monday as uncertainty surrounding the US-Iran war and rising crude oil prices weighed on market sentiment. After making flat-to-positive start, index wiped out all its gains and extended its losses till the end of the session, as market participants were cautious with relentless foreign fund outflow. As per exchange data, foreign instructional investors offloaded Indian equities worth Rs 3,568.90 on October 09, 2026. Sentiments remained downbeat as the RBI data showed that India's forex reserves dropped by $12.952 billion to $734.606 billion during the week ended October 2. The overall reserves had dropped by $18.343 billion to $747.557 billion in the previous reporting week ended September 25. Finally, Nifty ended near 22,350 mark.
Traders were seen piling up positions in Media, Chemicals and Auto stocks, while selling was witnessed in FMCG, PSU Bank and IT. The top gainers from the F&O segment were UPL, Ather Energy and Suzlon Energy. On the other hand, the top losers were Avenue Supermarts, Fortis Healthcare and Dabur India. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 23400 - 23600 calls and 23400 - 23600 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
