Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty rallied up to 1% in early trade on Wednesday (October 21, 2026), rebounding from the previous session’s sharp losses as buying in IT stocks, Reliance Industries and firm global cues lifted investors’ sentiment.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 822.64 points, or 1.11%, to 74,675.54 in the morning trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty advanced 217.65 points, or 0.95%, to 23,106.60.

Among the Sensex constituents, Infosys led the gainers, rising over 3%, followed by Tata Consultancy Services (2.6%) and UltraTech Cement (2.3%).

Tech Mahindra, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, ITC, Larsen & Toubro, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, and Asian Paints were also among the gainers.

Bajaj Finance, Bharat Electronics Ltd, IndiGo, Trent, Eternal, Bajaj Finserv, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, Maruti Suzuki India, Titan and Axis Bank were among the laggards.

The ₹30,213-crore Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Jio Platforms attracted 85% subscription from the investors within minutes of opening.

“Since the Q2 results season has started on a positive note and some positive surprises are likely in the broader market, the market action going forward will be more stock-specific and results-sensitive,” said V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments Limited.

Despite the external headwinds, this is a stock picker’s market now, he added.

Domestic equity markets were closed on Tuesday (October 20, 2026) on account of Dussehra.

Asian markets were trading on a mixed note, with South Korea’s Kospi index rising 2.6% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 benchmark gaining nearly 1%.

However, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Shanghai’s SSE Composite index traded lower.

U.S. markets ended largely higher on Tuesday (October 20, 2026).

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 1.46% to $110.38 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹1,148.64 crore on Monday (October 19, 2026), while Domestic Institutional Investors bought shares worth ₹3,201.19 crore, according to exchange data.

“FIIs remained net sellers, offloading equities worth approximately ₹1,148 crore. Meanwhile, DIIs continued to support the market with net purchases of around ₹3,200 crore, partially offsetting foreign investor outflows amid broader market weakness,” said Sachin Gupta, VP – Technical Research at Choice Broking Private Limited.

Traders may remain selective, with global cues and Q2 earnings likely to influence intraday direction, Gupta said.

On Monday (October 19, 2026), the 30-share BSE Sensex tumbled 876.37 points to settle at 73,852.90. The broader NSE Nifty dropped 257.20 points to end at 22,888.95.

Published – October 21, 2026 11:56 am IST