Sensex, Nifty Snap Eight-Week Losing Streak as Friday Rally Adds 879 Points

For the first time since mid-August, Indian equities will end a week in the green. Friday's sharp rally lifted the Sensex 879.09 points, or 1.23%, to close at 72,472.33, while the Nifty 50 rose 288.65 points, or 1.3%, to 22,520.45. That was enough to push both benchmarks above where they finished last week, breaking a run of eight straight weekly declines, the longest such streak for Indian stocks since 2001 and longer than the slide seen during the Covid crash of 2020.

On a weekly basis the gains are modest. The Sensex finished last week, which was cut short by the Gandhi Jayanti holiday, at 71,909.70 and the Nifty at 22,421.95. Friday's close leaves the Sensex up roughly 0.8% for the week and the Nifty up about 0.4%. Over the eight losing weeks, the two indices had shed around 8.4% to 8.7%.

A broad bounce, not just an IT story

The morning's move was led by TCS after its September-quarter numbers, as we noted in our mid-morning report. By the close, though, the buying had spread well beyond technology. Forty-six of the 50 Nifty stocks ended higher, and every sectoral index except oil and gas closed in positive territory.

Nifty IT still led with a gain of about 3%, but Nifty FMCG added 2.2%, PSU banks 1.6%, autos 1.4% and private banks 1.3%. Apollo Hospitals was the best-performing Nifty stock, up 4.7%, extending a rally in hospital shares triggered by reports that the Centre's planned cap on cancer drug trade margins would be less painful than feared. ITC rose 4.3% and Eicher Motors 4.2%.

The Nifty Midcap 100 gained 1.56% to 58,787.30, outpacing the large-cap indices, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 rose a more modest 0.54%. India VIX, the market's fear gauge, slipped about 6% to 14.36.

Only four Nifty stocks fell: BSE, Reliance Industries, JSW Steel and Cipla, none by more than 1.5%. The Nifty Oil & Gas index, which hit a 52-week low during the session, was the lone sectoral decliner.

The foreign selling has not stopped

The headline relief masks a problem that has not gone away. Exchange data show foreign institutional investors sold shares worth about Rs 12,944 crore on Thursday, while domestic institutions absorbed about Rs 10,703 crore. Foreign outflows from Indian equities in 2026 had already reached a record of roughly $27.8 billion by the start of October.

Analysts tracking those flows point to US 10-year Treasury yields, which have risen above 5%, as the main reason global money is leaving emerging markets. Several market strategists cautioned on Friday that as long as yields stay at those levels, foreign selling is likely to resume, and that one strong session does not mark a turn in trend. The rupee offered little comfort either, closing near its record low at around 96.73 to the dollar.

Oil is the swing factor

Brent crude, which touched $105 a barrel on Thursday evening, eased to below $103 on Friday. That pullback did as much as TCS to lift sentiment, given how sensitive India's import bill, inflation and corporate margins are to oil. With the RBI having just raised rates for the first time since 2023 and crude still far above levels seen earlier in the year, any fresh spike could quickly erase this week's small gain.

Next week brings another batch of September-quarter results, which will test whether Friday was a genuine floor or just a pause in the selling.

This is an original summary based on public reporting. See our editorial policy for how we source, write, and correct our stories.