Sensex, Nifty Fall for Fourth Session as Smallcaps Drop 3%; Swiggy Plunges 17%

The Sensex fell 125.56 points to 73,123.83 and the Nifty ended at 22,600 on Oct. 23, 2026, as midcap and smallcap indices fell more than 2% and Swiggy slid after Q2 results.

Oct 23, 2026 - 07:11

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Indian equity benchmarks closed lower for a fourth consecutive session on Friday, October 23, 2026, though a late recovery pared most of the day's losses. The heavier damage was in midcap and smallcap shares, which fell more than 2%, while food-delivery company Swiggy slumped about 17% after its quarterly results.

Benchmarks recover from session lows

The BSE Sensex ended at 73,123.83, down 125.56 points, or 0.17%, from its previous close of 73,249.39, News18 reported. The index opened at 73,665.64 and touched 73,766.51 before sliding to an intraday low of 72,452.37, a swing of more than 1,300 points from the high. It then recovered 671.46 points from that low by the close.

The NSE Nifty 50 settled at 22,600, down 87.65 points, or 0.39%, from 22,687.65. It traded between 22,787.25 and 22,372 during the day. The India VIX, a gauge of expected volatility, rose 6.32% to 16.76.

Broader market takes the brunt

The Nifty Midcap 100 fell 2.21% and the Nifty Smallcap 100 dropped 2.94%, while the Nifty Next 50 lost 2.26% and the Nifty Microcap 250 declined 2.32%, according to News18. Market breadth was sharply negative, with roughly six stocks falling for every one that rose on the NSE, CNBC-TV18 reported.

Fifteen of 16 major sectoral indices ended lower, India Today reported. The Nifty Metal index fell 2.71%, the Nifty Consumer Durables index 2.63%, the Nifty Realty index 2.38% and the Nifty PSU Bank index 2.26%. The Nifty Bank index lost 638 points to 54,287, and the Nifty IT index slipped 0.27%.

"The key concern in today's market is the disproportionately sharp correction in mid- and small-caps relative to the Nifty," Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Investments, told India Today, citing valuation concerns and the unwinding of leveraged positions.

Gainers and losers

Among Sensex stocks, Eternal rose 3.97%, Larsen & Toubro gained 1.25%, Reliance Industries added 1.19% and Tata Consultancy Services rose 1%. Tata Steel was the biggest decliner at 3.21%, followed by Adani Ports at 3.03% and Trent at 2.13%. Shriram Finance was the weakest Nifty stock, falling about 4% as its asset quality deteriorated, and JSW Steel lost about 3% despite reporting second-quarter results that CNBC-TV18 described as healthy. ABB fell 5% as capital-goods shares tracked a global selloff in artificial-intelligence-related stocks.

Swiggy slides after Q2 results

Swiggy shares plunged about 17%, a move CNBC-TV18 described as the stock's biggest single-day fall, as investors reacted to weakness in its Instamart quick-commerce business, CNBC-TV18 reported. For the September quarter, the company posted a net loss of ₹922 crore, compared with a loss of ₹1,092 crore a year earlier, on revenue that rose 36.1% to ₹7,571 crore. The quick-commerce segment's EBIT loss widened to ₹764 crore from ₹739 crore, while food-delivery margins improved to 14.9% from 13.1%, according to CNBC-TV18.

Several brokerages cut their price targets after the results, including Motilal Oswal to ₹280 from ₹360, HSBC to ₹240 from ₹315, and Citi to ₹330, the report said. Instamart added 97 dark stores in the quarter compared with 508 added by Eternal's Blinkit.

Flows and the Jio Platforms IPO

Foreign institutional investors sold Indian equities worth ₹3,458.70 crore on October 22, while domestic institutions bought ₹2,891.32 crore, News18 reported. The rupee weakened 0.13% to 94.94 per U.S. dollar, according to India Today. Demand held up for Jio Platforms' ₹30,213-crore initial public offering, which was subscribed 6.98 times by 12:04 p.m. on the final day of bidding, with the qualified institutional buyer portion subscribed 14.60 times.