Benchmark equity indices ended higher on Monday, with banking stocks, particularly public sector lenders, leading the recovery and helping the Nifty reclaim the 25,000 mark. Persistent foreign institutional buying also supported sentiment, while both indices recovered sharply from their intraday lows.

The Sensex rose 107.25 points, or 0.13%, to close at 81,106.65, while the Nifty gained 58.25 points, or 0.23%, to settle at 25,044.65. The Sensex recovered around 600 points from its intraday low, while the Nifty touched a nine-month high.

The Nifty PSU Bank index led sectoral gains, rising 3%. Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank and Union Bank of India advanced 4-5% each. Mid-cap indices gained 0.4-0.6%, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 and Smallcap 50 rose 0.1% and 0.4%, respectively. The Nifty Smallcap 250 was the exception, declining 0.1%.

Market breadth remained weak despite the gains, with 2,311 stocks declining against 1,924 advances on the NSE, while 208 remained unchanged. The India VIX fell 5.5% to 17.42, indicating lower expectations of near-term volatility.

In the currency market, the rupee closed almost unchanged at 93.9275 per US dollar, compared with 93.9050 on Friday. Dollar demand from state-run banks, reportedly linked to RBI’s requirements and oil-sector payments, offset support from foreign inflows and lower crude prices.

Top Movers of the Day
State Bank of India rallied 2.56% to close at 1,042.00 rupees, outperforming PSU banking peers on high trading volumes. The upside was driven by sustained institutional accumulation following positive Q2 credit growth trends and improving asset quality metrics across public sector lenders.

HDFC Bank Ltd rose 1.79% to close at 798.15 rupees, providing strong benchmark support to the Nifty Index. The upward tick reflected steady foreign portfolio investor (FPI) inflows into large-cap financial heavyweights alongside healthy core net interest margin stability.

Tata Steel Ltd fell 2.81% to close at 184.85 rupees, making it the top drag among Nifty components. The stock faced selling pressure due to persistent weakness in global steel realisation prices and weak demand sentiment from China.

HCL Technologies Ltd declined 2.43% to close at 1,407.00 rupees, leading sector-wide losses in information technology. The drop was triggered by ongoing profit-taking and investor caution ahead of key global macroeconomic data releases affecting US IT discretionary spending budgets.

Infosys Ltd slipped 1.49% to close at 1,154.10 rupees, tracking broader weakness across tier-1 Indian tech exporters. The decline followed cautious comments from global IT research firms regarding delayed enterprise digital transformation deal sign-offs.

UltraTech Cement Ltd dropped 1.79% to close at 12,275.00 rupees amidst institutional profit-booking. The weakness was caused by concerns over temporary margin pressure stemming from elevated petcoke input costs and modest cement price realisations in regional markets.

Bharti Airtel Ltd lost 0.6% to close at 2,072.10 rupees, ending a multi-session upward consolidation phase. The pullback was primarily driven by intraday profit-taking by domestic funds after the stock hit near-record trading levels.

Futures & Options
Nifty November 2026 futures closed at 25,028, trading at a discount of 16.65 points to the Nifty 50’s cash market close of 25,044.65. The benchmark index gained 58.25 points, or 0.23%, during the session.

The NSE India VIX, which measures expected near-term market volatility, declined 5.79% to 17.36, indicating easing volatility expectations.

HDFC Bank, State Bank of India and Reliance Industries were the most actively traded individual stock futures contracts in the NSE’s derivatives segment. November 2026 F&O contracts are scheduled to expire on November 23, 2026.

Bonds
The yield on the benchmark 6.94%, 2036 government bond fell on Monday as easing overseas cues, particularly lower crude oil prices, supported sentiment. However, some traders placed fresh short bets amid uncertainty over global cues ahead of Tuesday's Diwali holiday.

The yield on the benchmark ended at 7.1529% from 7.1898% on Friday.

Brent crude oil prices hovered around $97.24 a barrel, easing concerns over imported inflation. However, the 10-year US Treasury yield edged up to nearly 4.87%, prompting some traders to build short positions. Trading volumes remained subdued as several market participants stayed away ahead of the holiday.

Forex
The rupee ended nearly unchanged on Monday after surrendering early gains as dollar demand from state-run banks, reportedly on behalf of the RBI and oil-sector companies, offset support from foreign portfolio inflows and lower crude prices.

The rupee closed at 93.9275 per US dollar, against Friday’s close of 93.9050. It opened at 93.8100 and strengthened to 93.6800 before reversing to an intraday low of 94.1250.

Forex traders attributed the currency’s movements to competing dollar demand and supply. State-run banks’ purchases, reportedly linked to RBI requirements and payments under a special oil window, capped gains. Importer demand also emerged at favourable levels.

Thin holiday-week trading amplified price movements, with relatively small orders triggering sharp swings. Brent crude stood at $97.53 per barrel, while the dollar index was at 101.83 and the US 10-year Treasury yield was at 4.868%.

Crypto
The cryptocurrency market traded sharply lower on Monday, with Bitcoin and Ethereum extending losses amid concerns over US midterm election results, regulatory uncertainty and sustained institutional outflows.

Bitcoin traded near $73,708 today, down more than 2% over the past 24 hours, hitting its lowest level since August. Its market capitalisation came under pressure as US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded approximately $1.28 billion in net outflows between November 2 and November 6. BlackRock's IBIT accounted for around $1.21 billion of the withdrawals. Bitcoin also faced selling pressure from leveraged positions, with liquidations across the cryptocurrency market exceeding $1 billion over 24 hours.

Ethereum traded near $2,223, down approximately 5% over the past 24 hours, marking its lowest level in two months. The broader sell-off was compounded by concerns that stronger Democratic representation in the US Congress could lead to tighter cryptocurrency regulation and complicate digital asset market structure legislation. According to CoinGlass, total liquidations reached $1.04 billion, affecting more than 155,000 traders, with long positions accounting for most forced closures. Investors are now watching the $70,000 level for Bitcoin and upcoming US inflation data for fresh direction.

US stock futures
US stock futures rose on Monday as investors assessed last week’s technology-led volatility and awaited key US inflation data and earnings from major artificial intelligence companies. Dow Jones futures gained 0.76%, leading advances, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures rose 0.34% and 0.5%, respectively.

Wall Street staged a partial recovery on Friday, with the Nasdaq Composite rising 1.09% and the S&P 500 gaining 0.31% as chip stocks rebounded, while the Dow fell 0.46%. Sentiment remained cautious amid stronger-than-expected US jobs data and concerns that tighter regulations following Democrats’ midterm victories could slow data centre construction and AI infrastructure spending. Technology stocks were also in focus after Nvidia's board announced an investigation into CEO Jensen Huang's relationship with a businesswoman who US intelligence agencies suspect of being a Chinese spy. Nvidia shares fell around 2% in extended trading on Hyperliquid.

US Treasury Notes
US Treasury yields were largely unchanged on Monday as investors awaited key inflation data later this week, following stronger-than-expected US employment figures that pushed yields higher on Friday.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield hovered around 4.86%, while the 30-year yield was near 5.26% and the two-year yield around 4.53%.

The October US consumer price index, due Tuesday, is expected to show annual inflation rising to 3.9% from 3.7% in September. Producer price inflation data is scheduled for release later in the week.

The inflation readings will follow Friday's employment report, where the stronger labour market data reinforced concerns that the Federal Reserve could maintain a tighter monetary policy stance. 

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