India's benchmark indices gave up early gains on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, as losses in banking and financial stocks outweighed gains in IT shares. The Sensex and Nifty both slipped into the red in mid-session trade.
The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 484.98 points, or 0.66%, to 73,367.92 in afternoon trade, after surging 829.29 points earlier in the day. Losses in banking and financial stocks outweighed gains in shares of IT companies.
Sensex and Nifty reverse from early highs
From its intra-day high of 74,682.19 points, the Sensex dropped 1,325.48 points to the day's low of 73,356.71. The NSE Nifty also declined 171.25 points, or 0.75%, to 22,717.
Nifty had touched a high of 23,120.90 in early trade before falling to a low of 22,702.85.
Bajaj Finance and Axis Bank among Sensex laggards
Within the Sensex basket, Bajaj Finance, Eternal, Bajaj Finserv, Maruti Suzuki India, Axis Bank, Trent, Bharat Electronics Ltd, Mahindra & Mahindra, IndiGo, NTPC, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Adani Ports were among the major laggards.
However, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, UltraTech Cement, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and ITC were trading in the green territory.
Asian markets mixed as Brent rises nearly 1%
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea's Kospi and Japan's Nikkei 225 settled higher, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Shanghai's SSE Composite traded lower. U.S. markets ended higher on Tuesday, October 20.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose nearly 1% to $109.71 per barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors offloaded equities worth ₹1,148.64 crore on Monday, October 19, while Domestic Institutional Investors bought shares worth ₹3,201.19 crore, according to exchange data. On the same day, the Sensex tumbled 876.37 points to settle at 73,852.90, and the Nifty dropped 257.20 points to end at 22,888.95.
Source: The Hindu
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