Dalal Street closed lower for a third straight session on Thursday, October 22. The Sensex fell 460.30 points to settle at 73,249.39. With the Nifty50 below 22,700, the broader picture looked the same: it closed at 22,687.65, down 123.70 points. Rising crude, fresh geopolitical tension and a weaker rupee kept buyers on the sidelines.
- Broad selling: Media, FMCG and IT stocks took the brunt, and heavyweights Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank weighed on both indices.
- Sensex losers: Reliance Industries fell 2.59 per cent, Eternal 2.20 per cent, and HDFC Bank 1.85 per cent.
- Nifty losers: Nestle India dropped 2.78 per cent, Eternal 2.53 per cent and HDFC Life 2.09 per cent.
- Pockets of strength: Bajaj Finance led the gainers, up 1.61 per cent on the Sensex and 1.74 per cent on the Nifty. UltraTech Cement rose 1.52 per cent on the Sensex, and Cipla added 1.29 per cent on the Nifty. ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma and SBI also ended higher.
- Oil and currency: Crude oil prices jumped after reports of Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia’s energy infrastructure, pushing Brent up over 3 per cent to $112.33 a barrel. The rupee weakened 44 paise to 94.82 against the US dollar.
- Intraday swing: The Sensex was down as much as 638.98 points around midday, so the close was better than the lows.
One trigger, oil, is hitting two fronts at once: costlier crude strains sentiment and also pressures the currency. The recovery from midday lows shows some buyers stepped in, but not enough to break the losing streak. When the Sensex falls 460 points while a few large private lenders and pharma names still gain, the market is rotating away from the big index weights rather than moving in lockstep.
Traders will watch whether crude oil prices hold near current levels, how the Houthi-related reports develop, and where the rupee settles next. The 22,700 level on the Nifty is the mark to track. If the Sensex falls 460 points again on another oil spike, a fourth straight loss becomes harder to dismiss as noise.
