The key equity benchmarks continued to trade with significant losses in early afternoon trade weighed down by elevated crude oil prices and selling pressure in heavyweight banking stocks. Investor sentiment remained subdued following the release of second-quarter FY27 results by a major banking player over the weekend, with concerns over pressure on net interest margins (NIMs) and modest earnings growth weighing on the banking pack.

At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex tanked 755.77 points or 0.98% to 73,996.33. The Nifty 50 index declined 206.20 points or 0.89% to 22,941.60.

In the broader market, the BSE 150 MidCap Index declined 0.57% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index fell 1.01%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,328 shares rose and 2,842 shares fell. A total of 285 shares were unchanged.

Brent crude for December 2026 settlement declined $2.57 or 2.34% to $107.29 a barrel.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, rallied 5.13% to 14.97. The Nifty 27 October 2026 futures were trading at 22,936.10 at a discount of 5.50 points as compared with the spot at 22,941.60.

The Nifty option chain for the 27 October 2026 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 1.17 crore contracts at the 23,500 strike price. A maximum put OI of 69.3 lakh contracts was seen at the 22,500 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index fell 1.02% to 31,598.50. The index jumped 12.61% in the past four trading sessions.

Infosys (down 2.02%), LTM (down 1.6%), Oracle Financial Services Software (down 1.45%), Coforge (down 0.92%), Tech Mahindra (down 0.84%), Mphasis (down 0.68%), Wipro (down 0.23%), Tata Consultancy Services (down 0.02%) surged.