- Summary
- The Sensex fell 570.59 points to close at 71,909.70 while the Nifty 50 declined 198.50 points to end at 22,421.95 on Thursday, 1 October 2026, extending losses to a fourth session as firm energy prices, bond yield volatility and rate-hike fears unnerved investors.
- Nifty IT rose the most and was the only sectoral index in the green, while Auto, Media, Metal and FMCG declined the most, with Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki and Shriram Finance the top Nifty losers.
- The benchmarks are now on course for an eighth consecutive weekly loss, their longest losing streak in 25 years, even as softer US inflation data lifted IT stocks, with Mphasis, Coforge and Infosys rising up to 5%.
- MTNL zoomed nearly 13% intraday after selling its Powai property for ₹891.53 crore, HFCL extended a three-session rally to 15%, and Brent slipped to $96.98 as West Asian supply hit its highest level since the conflict began.
The Sensex fell 570.59 points, or 0.79%, to close at 71,909.70, while the Nifty 50 ended 198.50 points, or 0.88%, lower at 22,421.95, opening October exactly as September closed.
The broader market resumed its slide. The Nifty MidCap 100 fell 1.01% and the Nifty SmallCap 100 declined 0.97%, surrendering the resilience they had shown over the previous two sessions.
Impact on the stock market
Sectoral gainers: Nifty IT rose the most and stood as the only sectoral index in the green, extending its gains on softer US inflation data and fading rate-hike expectations.
Sectoral losers: Nifty Auto, Nifty Media, Nifty Metal and Nifty FMCG declined the most, with auto’s fall mirrored in Bajaj Auto and Maruti Suzuki leading the Nifty losers.
| Sector/Index | Performance |
| IT & BPM sector | 0.13% |
| Healthcare sector | -2.57% |
| Oil & Gas sector | 0.44% |
| Real estate sector | 1.62% |
| PSU Bank in India | 0.54% |
Top gainers today
| Company | Share Price (in ₹) | Change % |
| Kotak Mahindra | 417.00 | 2.71 |
| Interglobe Avi | 4,984.00 | 2.30 |
| ICICI Bank | 1,321.70 | 2.28 |
| UltraTechCement | 10,956.00 | 1.17 |
| Shriram Finance | 982.70 | 1.15 |
Top losers today
| Company | Share Price (in ₹) | Change % |
| Apollo Hospital | 8,165.50 | -5.70 |
| Max Healthcare | 929.80 | -5.33 |
| Nestle | 1,310.00 | -2.65 |
| Sun Pharma | 1,816.60 | -2.60 |
| Cipla | 1,346.00 | -2.41 |
Market aftermath: Impact on stocks
IT Stocks: The Only Green on the Screen as US Inflation Cools
IT shares bucked the crash emphatically, with the Nifty IT index rising up to 2% to an intraday high of 28,289.85 while every other sectoral index stayed in the red. The trigger came from the US, where August inflation data showed prices rising slower than expected and the previous month was revised lower, prompting traders to cut the probability of a Federal Reserve rate hike at the 28 October meeting to 38%, down from 50% a day earlier and nearly 71% a week ago. New York Fed President John Williams added that there was “no urgency” for another move, a meaningful shift from a central bank that raised rates in September for the first time in three years.
Mphasis led the gainers with a rise of up to 5%, followed by Coforge at 4.68% and Infosys at 2.87%, with eight of the ten index constituents trading higher. The timing matters because results season begins next week, with TCS reporting its second quarter on 8 October, and Kotak Institutional Equities expects a split verdict, with large companies staying subdued while mid-tier names deliver stronger growth, forecasting 7% sequential growth for Persistent Systems, 4.5% for Coforge and 3.5% for Mphasis. The brokerage notes that challengers keep winning market share through stronger execution, which explains why the mid-caps are leading this rally.
HFCL: A 15% Three-Session Rally, and a Regulatory Flag Worth Reading
Telecom equipment maker HFCL extended its rally to a third straight day, opening at its 5% upper circuit of ₹238.37 before trading around ₹236, up 3.96%, with volumes surging to about 16 million shares from 3.4 million in the previous session. The three-session gain now exceeds 15%, part of an extraordinary longer run that has seen the stock rise 227% in six months and more than 223% in a year, from a 52-week low of ₹59.83 in January to a high of ₹257 in August. Notably, the stock has been placed under Long-Term Additional Surveillance Measure Stage 4, a regulatory framework used to monitor stocks showing abnormal price swings or heavy speculation, which typically brings stricter margin requirements.
The technical picture is genuinely split, which makes the levels worth knowing. Choice Broking sees strong buying interest after a bullish reversal pattern, with support at ₹215-220 and resistance at ₹255-257, while Anand Rathi warns the weekly chart shows the uptrend losing momentum and expects consolidation or profit booking, saying only a decisive breakout above ₹260 would revive stronger bullish momentum. After a 223% year, both the surveillance tag and the divided chart views argue for discipline over excitement.
MTNL: A 13% Surge on the ₹891.53 Crore Powai Property Sale
State-run telecom company MTNL jumped nearly 13% intraday to ₹25.92 after announcing the sale of its Powai property in Mumbai to the Income Tax Department for ₹891.53 crore, through a government-to-government transfer covering a land parcel of 20,895.60 square metres. The deal is part of a wider monetisation push, with the government having identified 100 MTNL properties, 48 in Delhi and 52 in Maharashtra, for auction to help the company meet its financial liabilities. Reports also said MTNL has begun paying interest on its government-guaranteed bonds from its own funds and has cleared nearly ₹200 crore of old vendor dues.
The context explains the excitement, because MTNL defaulted in July on debt of ₹37,223 crore, including ₹24,071 crore of sovereign guarantee bonds, making every asset sale a step away from that cliff. A single property fetching ₹891.53 crore shows the real estate on its books carries substantial value relative to the company’s roughly ₹25 share price. The stock pared gains to close up 7.36%, a reminder that asset sales fix balance sheets but not the underlying business, so this remains a monetisation story rather than a turnaround one.
Crude Oil: Brent Slips to $97 as West Asian Supply Hits a Post-War High
The oil market delivered the day’s most constructive data point, with December Brent futures falling 1.07% to $96.98 a barrel, WTI declining 1.39% to $89.16, and October crude futures on the MCX dropping 1.76% to ₹8,580. The driver was supply, with West Asian oil flows touching 16.328 million barrels a day in September, the highest level since the conflict began in February, helped by Saudi Arabia restarting loadings from the Red Sea port of Yanbu after its East-West pipeline resumed operations. Reports also said Iran has received a US response to its proposal for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, keeping the diplomatic channel alive.
US inventory data was mixed, with crude stocks rising 0.9 million barrels to 427.3 million barrels while gasoline and distillate inventories fell. For Indian markets, Brent below $97 combined with fading US rate-hike odds is exactly the macro cocktail the bulls have been waiting for. The question is whether it arrived in time to stop the weekly streak from reaching eight.
Conclusion
Thursday compressed the whole month’s story into one session, with a 571-point Sensex fall driven by rate fears even as the two pressure points behind those fears, oil and US inflation, both moved in the market’s favour. The IT rally shows how quickly money responds when the Fed outlook softens, and next week’s results starting with TCS on 8 October will test whether the sector’s bounce has earnings behind it. MTNL and HFCL provided the stock-specific drama, one monetising its way back from default and the other carrying a surveillance tag into a 223% year. With the benchmarks facing their longest weekly losing streak in 25 years, Brent at $97 and hike odds at 38% are the two numbers that could finally break the pattern, and Friday will show whether the market believes them.
