Indian equity indices gave up all their gains and traded under pressure in the early afternoon session on account of profit booking. Further, rising crude oil prices weighed on domestic market sentiment. Oil prices rose on Middle East supply concerns, with traders wary of Red Sea shipping risks and threats to oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia. Besides, traders were cautious as foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 1,148.64 crore on a net basis on October 19, 2026, exchange data showed.
The Sensex was trading 0.44% lower, while the Nifty fell 0.63% amid selling pressure in stocks such as HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India, Bajaj Finance, and Maruti Suzuki India. On the BSE sectoral front, traders were seen building positions only in the IT and TECK sectors, while selling pressure was witnessed in Capital Goods, Industrials, Power, Auto, and Consumer Discretionary. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green following mostly positive cues from the US markets overnight.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 73528.95, down by 323.95 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 73512.20 and 74682.19. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.
The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.64% and TECK up by 1.07%, while Capital Goods down by 3.01%, Industrials down by 2.62%, Power down by 2.42%, Auto down by 2.30% and Consumer Disc down by 2.28% were the top losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 2.72%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.46%, TCS up by 2.38%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.24% and HCL Technologies up by 2.10%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 2.79%, Eternal down by 2.06%, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.00%, Axis Bank down by 1.22% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.21% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, at a time when India-US relation hit rough patch, the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that India and US have ‘extraordinary alignment’ on the core issues that matter even though there can be disagreements on some others. He cited that the need to have a ‘free and open’ Indo-Pacific where no nation can claim dominance or ownership on international shipping as among the core issues of alignment. On his two-day visit to India, Rubio is scheduled to visit Reliance Industries' petrochemicals refinery at Gujarat's Jamnagar and meet business leaders, including Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran and Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani in Mumbai.
Highlighting importance of India-US relations, he said India is a ‘powerful, influential and advanced’ country, and a ‘strong geopolitical partner’ for the US. Further, both countries have a lot in common, including shared values of upholding the dignity of the individual, democratic principles and rule of law. He also said that India and the US are ‘very, very close’ to signing a bilateral trade deal, with only a few points to be ironed out. Meanwhile, talking about friction regarding trade and protectionist polity of US, Rubio noted that the US administration is taking decisions that will have far-reaching consequences.
In 2025, the bilateral trade between two countries stood at $149.42 billion. During the year, India's total goods exports to the U.S. reached $103.82 billion, while U.S. exports to India totalled around $45.6 billion. Further, the bilateral services trade in 2025 was recorded $92.23 billion, where India exported $48.67 billion worth of services to the US and imported $43.56 billion worth of services from the US.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22745.20, down by 143.75 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 22744.40 and 23120.90. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 2.37%, TCS up by 2.11%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.94%, HCL Technologies up by 1.82% and Ultratech Cement up by 0.98%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 3.42%, Eicher Motors down by 3.25%, Eternal down by 3.03%, Bajaj Auto down by 2.28% and Bharat Electronics down by 2.23% were the top losers.
Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 635.58 points or 0.98% to 64,711.00, Taiwan Weighted added 594.84 points or 1.27% to 46,887.77, KOSPI increased 182.92 points or 3.29% to 5,735.66 and Straits Times rose 42.01 points or 0.78% to 5,446.03. However, Jakarta Composite plunged 44.53 points or 0.85% to 5,234.36, Shanghai Composite weakened 21.14 points or 0.57% to 3,714.23 and Hang Seng declined 155.74 points or 0.65% to 23,712.00.
