Sensex Falls 319 Points and Nifty Slips to 25,144 as 6.09% Inflation and Oil Snap a Three-Day Rally

Indian equity benchmarks ended lower on Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, snapping a three-session winning streak, as retail inflation above the Reserve Bank of India's tolerance band and higher crude oil prices outweighed continued buying by foreign investors. The BSE Sensex fell 318.56 points, or 0.39%, to close at 81,592.45, and the NSE Nifty 50 lost 155.05 points, or 0.61%, to 25,144.30, HDFC Sky reported.

The Sensex had dropped as much as 622.26 points, or 0.75%, during the session to an intraday low of 81,288.75, according to the Press Trust of India. Around 2:26 p.m. local time, the Nifty was down 220.30 points near 25,079, before the index pared part of its losses into the close, Moneycontrol's live coverage showed.

Inflation and oil weigh on sentiment

Government data released after Thursday's session showed consumer price inflation rose to 6.09% in October from 5.54% in September, breaching the upper end of the RBI's 2%-6% tolerance range for the first time in two years, The Hindu BusinessLine reported. Food and beverages, restaurant services and transport costs drove the increase, and economists said the reading raised expectations of a policy rate increase by the central bank next month.

"For Indian markets, higher inflation implies higher bond yields, tighter liquidity, and greater valuation pressure on rate-sensitive sectors such as banks, real estate, autos, and capital-intensive infrastructure," Vinit Bolinjkar, head of research at Ventura, said, according to Reuters.

Brent crude futures traded around $95.7 a barrel on Friday, compared with about $92 at Thursday's Indian market close, amid attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure and disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, HDFC Sky said.

Sector and stock moves

All sectoral indices except FMCG ended lower. The Nifty Auto, Metal and Realty indices each fell about 1%, the Nifty Bank index dropped 0.8%, the Financial Services index 0.7% and the IT index 0.7%, while the Pharma index slipped 0.5%. The Nifty Midcap and Smallcap indices each declined about 0.2%. Market breadth on the BSE was negative, with 2,328 shares falling, 1,763 rising and 167 unchanged.

Shriram Finance was the biggest loser in the Nifty 50, falling 3.37%, followed by Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, down 3.31%, and Grasim Industries, down 2.60%. Hindalco Industries fell 2.12% and Adani Enterprises 1.9%. Bharti Airtel, Eicher Motors, ONGC, Nestle India and Asian Paints were among the gainers. On the Sensex, Mahindra & Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, Bharat Electronics, NTPC, Trent and HDFC Bank were among the major laggards, while Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Industries advanced, according to BusinessLine.

Paytm closed at a record high after receiving preliminary RBI approval for its payments services unit to issue prepaid payment products, Reuters reported.

Foreign inflows and the rupee

Foreign portfolio investors bought Indian equities for a ninth straight session on Thursday, purchasing shares worth a net Rs 7,831 crore, or about $833 million, according to provisional exchange data cited by HDFC Sky. Foreign inflows into Indian stocks in November have exceeded $8 billion, the highest monthly total since December 2020.

The rupee weakened against the U.S. dollar, trading between 94.05 and 94.28 during the day and settling around 94.2 per dollar, according to BusinessLine and HDFC Sky. Rising crude prices and higher U.S. Treasury yields have weighed on the currency.

Weekly performance

Despite Friday's losses, both benchmarks posted a third consecutive weekly gain. The Nifty 50 rose 0.5% for the week and the Sensex 0.7%, after recording their strongest weekly gains in more than six years the week before. Smaller stocks outperformed, with the Nifty Smallcap index up 3.6% and the Midcap index up 2.1% for the week, and 13 of 16 major sectoral indices finished higher. The IT index fell 3.2% over the week, ending a six-week winning streak in which it had gained 17.1%. State Bank of India rose 6% during the week after reporting quarterly results the previous week.