The Sensex rose 2.73% in October, marking its best monthly performance in six months while the Nifty 50 gained 1.91%, snapping a two-month losing streak. According to The Financial Express, the rally was largely confined to heavyweight stocks, with only 22 of the 50 Nifty stocks rising during the month. The Sensex closed at 74,459.53 on Friday, gaining 308.49 points (0.42%) while the Nifty ended at 23,053.10, up 116.35 points (0.51%). However, the broader market story was significantly different, with the BSE Midcap index falling 3.96% and the Smallcap index plunging 7.65% during October.
The Nifty IT index surged 17.7% in October, far outpacing the broader market and demonstrating the sector's continued dominance. As reported by The Financial Express, technology stocks were the clear winners with TCS, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies and Trent among the top Sensex performers. The strong IT performance came alongside gains in PSU banks, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and private banks, highlighting the sector's resilience despite broader market challenges. The IT sector's exceptional performance contributed significantly to the benchmark indices' recovery during the month.
The listing of Jio Platforms became the second most-valued company in terms of market capitalisation at ₹13 trillion and delivered exceptional returns with 27% listing gains. According to Business Standard, Jio Platforms alone accounts for ₹13.2 trillion of the ₹15.3 trillion total value from 83 new listings during October. The market value of everything listed on the National Stock Exchange rose about ₹3 trillion to ₹470.5 trillion, though much of Jio's value was already counted in the share price of its parent Reliance Industries, overstating actual investor gains. Jio Platforms shares gained over 1% to ₹1,435 on Friday, extending their strong post-listing rally with more than 28% gains in their first three trading sessions after debuting at ₹1,359.
Despite the headline gains, the broader market suffered significant losses, with the selloff wiping out ₹3.10 lakh crore of investor wealth, pulling the total market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies down to ₹474.33 lakh crore. As reported by The Financial Express, the BSE Midcap index fell 0.96% and the Smallcap index dropped 2.24% on Friday, extending the month's poor performance. The Nifty Smallcap reported its worst month since March, losing 4.06% in October, while the Nifty Midcap extended losses for the second month, declining 3.42% in October after slipping 7.62% in September. Of the 2,274 stocks listed on both September 30 and October 30, only 406 ended higher.
According to Ajit Mishra, SVP–Research at Religare Broking, markets traded with a positive bias on Friday, extending the previous session's recovery as buying interest in select heavyweight stocks and earnings-driven optimism supported sentiment. However, he noted that the weakness in midcap and smallcap stocks showed that investors remained cautious despite the recovery in benchmark indices. Vinod Nair from Geojit Investments attributed the recovery to softer crude oil prices and easing bond yields, while highlighting that with geopolitical tensions resurfacing and crude oil prices still elevated, market volatility is expected to persist. Foreign investors remained sellers, pulling out ₹22,012 crore from equities during October, though domestic institutional investors provided support by pumping in ₹62,220 crore.
