During the week ended October 9, the Indian equity market broke an eight‑week losing streak and closed higher, with the NIFTY50 advancing 98.50 points or 0.4% and the BSE SENSEX rising 562.63 points or 0.8%. The NIFTY Midcap 100 settled flat while the NIFTY Smallcap 100 gained 0.5%. The rally was concentrated in the final trading session, lifting overall market sentiment and ending the week in green.

Brent crude prices were volatile throughout the week, jumping 2.4% amid fresh concerns over the West Asia conflict. Brent touched a high of $105.92 per barrel but later retreated to close at $104.42 per barrel on Friday. The price movement reflected heightened geopolitical tensions and supply worries in the Middle East, influencing investor sentiment across the market.

On October 7, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) unanimously decided to raise the repo rate and shift its policy stance from ‘neutral’ to ‘calibrated tightening’ at its latest monetary policy meeting. The RBI’s MPC increased the repo rate by 25 basis points to 5.5% to counter spiralling inflation, which has been trending above its upper band of the tolerance level of 4% since June. This is the first interest rate hike by the MPC since February 2023.

The 50‑share index crashed to its lowest level of 2026 on Thursday following an increase in crude oil prices. Oil prices surged amid concerns over supply from the Middle East following an increase in attacks on shipping in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, while US output fell as a hurricane threatened offshore production. The spike in oil prices contributed to the market dip before the subsequent rally.

IT stocks gained despite the US green card programme suspension update, as IT bellwether TCS disclosed that there will be no impact of the directive on the workforce strategy and customer engagements in the United States. Investors reacted to TCS’s Q2 earnings report after the bellwether stock posted mid‑double‑digit revenue gains with an increase in net profit, while margins remained under pressure. US Labour Secretary Keith Sonderling announced that eight companies—Adobe, Microsoft, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCL Tech, Cognizant, and Capgemini—are now suspended from the PERM programme.

Among sectors, the NIFTY FMCG and NIFTY PSU Bank indices emerged as the top contributors during the week, rising 2.5% and 2.4% respectively. The NIFTY Bank (1.5%) and NIFTY IT (1%) were the other top gaining sectors of the week. On the downside, NIFTY Realty (-3.7%), NIFTY Metal (-3.7%), NIFTY Auto (-2.1%), NIFTY India Defence (-1.5%) and NIFTY Pharma (-1.3%) were among the losers. The India VIX index slipped 0.6% this week.