On Monday, October 26, the Indian equity benchmarks opened in a gap‑down, with the SENSEX falling as much as 574 points and the NIFTY50 index touching an intraday low of 22,397. The decline was driven largely by selling pressure on IT heavyweight Infosys, which had recently slashed its revenue growth guidance for the current financial year. Other names exerting pressure included ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India, Hindustan Unilever and Bharti Airtel. By 9:24 am, the SENSEX stood at 72,635, down 489 points, while the NIFTY50 was at 22,413, down 186 points.

Asian shares traded on a subdued note as investors awaited monetary decisions from major central banks due later this week and an array of corporate earnings. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.61%, China's Shanghai Composite declined 0.51%, South Korea's KOSPI dropped 1.24% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slipped 0.06%. Brent crude futures hovered around $110 per barrel amid ongoing attacks on Saudi Arabia, keeping supply concerns in focus. Attacks continued over the weekend, with Houthis claiming they had struck the Saudi airport and oil facilities on Saturday. Saudi Arabia said on Sunday it had intercepted more missiles and drones today.

Back home, selling pressure was broad‑based as all major sector gauges, barring the measure of pharma stocks, were trading lower. The NIFTY FMCG index fell 1.35%, while NIFTY Bank, Financial Services, IT, Auto, PSU Bank, Realty and Consumer Durables indices also declined between 0.6% and 1.05%. Broader markets faced selling pressure with the NIFTY Midcap 100 index dropping 0.84% and the NIFTY Smallcap 100 index declining 1.26%. The overall market breadth remained negative, with 2,033 shares falling against 1,077 gaining on the NSE.

Among individual shares, Bharat Coking Coal advanced as much as 6.55% to an intraday high of ₹31.73 after the company returned to profit in the September quarter from a loss during the same period last year. The company reported a net profit of ₹124 crore compared with a loss of ₹53 crore in the year‑ago period. Shriram Finance was the top loser in the NIFTY50, falling nearly 5% to ₹823 after it cut its assets under management growth guidance to 15‑17% from an earlier estimate of 18%. Tata Consumer Products, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Life, Eicher Motors, Infosys, Tata Motors PV, Bharat Electronics and State Bank of India also fell between 1.45% and 3.74%.

On the flip side, Dr Reddy's Labs jumped 2.8% to ₹1,264 after its net profit rose 11% to ₹925 crore in the second quarter of the current financial year. BSE, Kotak Mahindra Bank, JSW Steel, Adani Ports and Coal India were notable gainers in the NIFTY50. The overall market breadth remained negative, with 2,033 shares falling against 1,077 gaining on the NSE, underscoring the predominance of selling pressure across the index in the session.