Benchmarks have relinquished all their gains and slipped into negative territory in the late afternoon session. Traders opted to book profits following yesterday’s rally and ahead of the US inflation data, which is expected to influence the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision at its upcoming meeting on October 27. Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued their selling spree, offloading securities worth Rs 1,305.13 crore. Additionally, persistently high crude oil prices and bond yields have kept investors on edge.
Although the markets continued to trade below the neutral lines, they recovered from the day’s lows amid continued strength in the rupee against the US dollar, which supported market sentiment. The Indian rupee was trading at Rs 95.07 against the US dollar, strengthening by 29 paise from the previous day’s close.
On the global front, Asian equity markets were trading mostly in red ahead of US inflation data. European equity markets were trading higher as traders shifted their focus to quarterly earnings numbers.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 72793.95, down by 239.83 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 72578.75 and 73195.26. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.94%, IT up by 1.53%, Power up by 1.51%, Energy up by 1.38% and FMCG up by 1.02%, while Healthcare down by 1.22%, Auto down by 0.79%, Realty down by 0.73%, Metal down by 0.51% and Telecom down by 0.50% were the top losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 2.73%, TCS up by 2.01%, Reliance Industries up by 1.46%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.25% and Tech Mahindra up by 1.06%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.26%, Interglobe Aviation down by 2.00%, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries down by 1.90%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.79% and Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.67% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, the Railway Board has said that Indian Railways loaded 135.35 million tonnes of freight in September 2026, compared to 127.52 million tonnes in September 2025, registering a year-on-year growth of 6.14 per cent. On a cumulative basis, Indian Railways loaded 833.7 million tonnes of freight during April-September 2026, registering 4.1 per cent growth over the corresponding period last year.
The growth was supported by higher loading across several commodity categories, including food grain, clinker, domestic container, coal, mineral oil, finished steel and iron ore. Food grain loading recorded the highest growth among the major commodity categories, increasing by 25 per cent in September 2026 compared with September 2025. Clinker loading grew by 20 per cent, followed by Domestic Container by 10 per cent, Coal by 9 per cent, Balance Other Goods by 8.2 per cent, Mineral Oil by 6 per cent, Finished Steel by 5.5 per cent and Iron Ore by 5.2 per cent.
Indian Railways stepped up domestic coal supply to power houses during September 2026. The average number of coal rakes supplied per day rose to 443, compared with 397 in September 2025, marking an increase of 11.6 per cent. Freight revenue also recorded growth in September 2026. Indian Railways earned Rs 1,266 crore more from freight operations than in September 2025, representing a year-on-year increase of 9.3 per cent.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22617.95, down by 104.00 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 22558.95 and 22757.95. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 2.89%, Nestle India up by 2.50%, Tata Consumer Prod. up by 2.28%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.13% and Coal India up by 1.90%. On the flip side, Shriram Finance down by 3.90%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 3.34%, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.60%, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries down by 2.40% and Bajaj Finance down by 2.38% were the top losers.
Asian equity markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 42.52 points or 0.06% to 67,735.00, Hang Seng declined 51.22 points or 0.21% to 24,294.00, KOSPI dropped 26.54 points or 0.44% to 6,008.81, Straits Times fell 12.46 points or 0.23% to 5,418.04 and Shanghai Composite weakened 33.63 points or 0.89% to 3,767.23, while Taiwan Weighted added 284.52 points or 0.59% to 48,625.83 and Jakarta Composite gained 19.46 points or 0.33% to 5,945.44.
European equity markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 26.04 points or 0.24% to 10,676.37, France’s CAC rose 42.77 points or 0.55% to 7,870.40 and Germany’s DAX gained 130.6 points or 0.52% to 25,390.50.
