Indian equity markets extended their losses on October 19, with the Sensex cracking 1.52% or 1,140.76 points to hit the day's low of 73,708.54, while the Nifty 50 fell as much as 1.32% to a low of 22,845, breaching the psychological mark of 22,900. The decline came despite last week's recovery, as investors assessed the latest quarterly earnings from major banks and remained concerned about rising crude oil prices amid tensions around the Strait of Hormuz. India VIX jumped more than 6% to hit an intraday low of 14.93 from its previous close of 14.06, pointing to growing caution among investors. Market breadth turned decisively negative, with all sectoral indices trading in the red and crashing over 0.5%.
Axis Bank emerged as the biggest casualty, crashing 5% despite reporting strong Q2 FY27 earnings, with the stock coming under selling pressure after its net profit narrowly missed analyst estimates of ₹7,124 crore. The bank's Net Interest Margin (NIM) fell 37 basis points to 3.36%, significantly impacting profitability as lower margins mean the bank earns less on each rupee it lends. HDFC Bank's NIM fell 14 basis points to 3.16%, while ICICI Bank's NIM declined 12 basis points to 4.18%, with both stocks following Axis Bank's decline. The Nifty Private Bank index fell 2%, as reported by ET Now Digital, with Infosys, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles (PV), Trent, and other major stocks also declining significantly.
Against the broader market decline, public-sector banking stocks bucked the trend, with the Nifty PSU Bank index gaining 2.8% and trading in the green throughout the weak session. State Bank of India rose 0.74% to ₹969.70 and ONGC gained 0.73% to ₹223.61, supported by elevated crude prices. JSW Steel was the top Nifty gainer, advancing 2.18% to ₹1,242.80, while L&T added 0.68% to ₹3,651.80 and Eicher Motors gained 1.24% to ₹7,374.50. Union Bank shares gained as much as 5.5% to touch the session's peak of ₹181.20 as it reported a net profit of ₹5,537 crore in Q2 FY27, marking a 30% YoY increase from ₹4,249 crore. Punjab National Bank (PNB) gained as much as 7.7% to reach ₹125.22 after reporting standalone net profit rise 12.8% YoY to ₹5,532 crore in Q2 FY27.
India's headline inflation rate rose to 5.54% in September 2026 from 4.83% in the previous month, marking the highest level since October 2024 and ahead of market expectations of 5.4%. This represents the 11th straight month of rising inflation, approaching the Reserve Bank of India's upper tolerance limit of 6%. Food costs were 5.97% higher year-on-year, with onion prices more than doubling while ginger (62.9%) and garlic (54.6%) also increased sharply. Higher oil prices and a weakening rupee drove transportation inflation to 5.01%. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers of $52,100 crore in October 2026 so far, representing the third-biggest monthly churn out in 2026, with over the last 10 months, Indian primary markets witnessed FII net outflows of ₹3,12,402 crore.
Hospital chains and pharmaceutical companies with oncology exposure were trading in the red zone after the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) capped trade margins at 30% for 137 identified non-scheduled anti-cancer drug formulations. The measure, effective November 9, 2026, is expected to reduce the maximum retail prices (MRPs) of affected medicines by up to 70%. Urban Company stock tumbled as much as 9.4% to a day low of ₹143.28 as its consolidated net loss widened to ₹182.48 crore in Q2 FY27 compared to ₹59.33 crore year-ago, despite revenue rising 41.4% YoY to ₹537.29 crore. HFCL hit its 5% upper circuit at ₹268.81 as its consolidated net profit jumped nearly 5x to ₹394 crore from ₹71.9 crore, with revenue surging 143% YoY to ₹2,541 crore. Dr. V K Vijayakumar from Geojit Investments noted that the momentum created by the 2.8% surge in Nifty last week and the good results from banking majors after the better-than-expected results from leading IT companies have the potential to keep the market resilient. However, the escalation of tensions in Hormuz and the consequent surge in Brent crude to $109 will act as a strong headwind to the market.
