Sensex falls 508 points, Nifty slips below 22,450 as 43 of 50 stocks decline

Indian equity benchmarks opened the week on a weak note on Monday, October 26, with the BSE Sensex falling 508 points and the Nifty 50 slipping below 22,450 in early trade as selling pressure spread across major sectors.

At around 9.40 am, the Sensex was trading at 72,615.46, down 508.37 points, or 0.70 per cent, from its previous close of 73,123.83. The index opened at 72,990.04 and fell to an intraday low of 72,514.57.

The NSE Nifty 50 was down 178.20 points, or 0.79 per cent, at 22,421.80, compared with its previous close of 22,600. The index opened at 22,524.40 and touched an early low of 22,387.35.

The decline was broad-based, with 43 of the 50 Nifty constituents trading lower and only seven advancing, indicating that selling pressure extended beyond a handful of heavyweight stocks.

Asian Paints, Tata Consumer among biggest losers

Shriram Finance fell 5.15 per cent, making it the worst performer in the Nifty 50 list provided, followed by Tata Consumer Products, which declined 3.76 per cent. Asian Paints dropped around 3 per cent, while HDFC Life Insurance and Bajaj Finance fell more than 2 per cent each.

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Eicher Motors, Infosys, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, State Bank of India and Bharat Electronics were also among the stocks trading lower.

The weakness in financial stocks was notable. Bajaj Finance fell 2.12 per cent, HDFC Life declined 2.13 per cent, and SBI lost 1.53 per cent in the Nifty 50 snapshot. ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank were also under pressure, although Axis Bank’s losses were relatively modest.

Dr Reddy’s, Kotak Mahindra Bank buck the trend

A small group of stocks moved against the broader market decline. Dr Reddy’s Laboratories gained around 2.8 per cent, while Kotak Mahindra Bank rose about 1.9 per cent.

JSW Steel advanced around 1.6 per cent, while BSE Ltd and Adani Ports also traded higher. Cipla posted a modest gain.

The divergence between gainers and losers suggests that buying interest remained selective, rather than extending across the market.