Dalal Street navigated a volatile post-Diwali test on Monday, shaking off an intraday slump of over 820 points on the Sensex to finish in positive territory. On the first full trading session of Samvat 2083 following Sunday’s symbolic Muhurat trading, benchmark indices staged a sharp U-shaped recovery from morning lows, driven by robust buying in public sector banks and pharmaceutical majors that counterbalanced selling in IT and metal counters.
The 30-share BSE Sensex settled 107.25 points or 0.13% higher at 81,106.65. After opening at 81,327.29, the index tumbled to an intraday low of 80,519.31 before recouping nearly 600 points during afternoon trade. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty 50 advanced 58.25 points or 0.23% to close at 25,044.65, having swung between an early peak of 25,084.05 and a trough of 24,838.75.
Monday’s close marked the highest closing levels for both benchmarks since February 27, 2026, consolidating the sharp 10.5% rally accumulated over the prior seven sessions.
PSU Banks and FII Inflows Anchor Resilient Recovery
Despite negative market breadth—with 2,311 declining stocks against 1,924 advances—frontline indices held their ground, supported by key macroeconomic and institutional tailwinds:
- Relentless FII Buying: Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) remained firm net buyers, pumping in ₹13,749.82 crore on Friday, November 6. Total foreign inflows have crossed ₹38,971 crore in November alone, completely reversing two consecutive months of sustained selling.
- Banking and Pharma Outperformance: The Nifty PSU Bank index emerged as the session’s star performer, rallying over 3.7%. State Bank of India (SBI) led the Nifty50 leaderboard with a 2.56% gain, while Trent (+2%), Nestle India (+1.9%), NTPC (+1.8%), and HDFC Bank (+1.7%) added key support.
- Vol-Cooling: The India VIX dropped 5.79% to ease to 17.36, indicating waning hedging demand among market participants.
- Currency and Drag Factors: The Indian rupee snapped a six-day winning streak, easing marginally by 5 paise to settle at 93.93 against the US dollar amid state-run banks’ dollar bids. Tata Steel and HCL Tech fell over 2% each, curbing broader index upside.
Corporate Beat: Divi’s Laboratories and PVR INOX Hit 52-Week Highs
With more than 1,300 companies slated to announce their Q2 FY27 earnings this week, earnings-specific momentum drove individual stock rallies:
- Divi’s Laboratories: Shares jumped 6.5% to scale a fresh 52-week peak of ₹11,824 after reporting a 64% year-on-year surge in standalone net profit to ₹1,127 crore, supported by a 35% revenue increase to ₹3,676 crore on strong API and custom synthesis demand.
- PVR INOX: The multiplex operator climbed 3% to touch a new 52-week high of ₹1,645.10 on the back of its highest-ever quarterly net profit, doubling year-on-year to ₹263.1 crore amid robust box-office receipts and F&B recovery.
- Tata Steel: The steel giant posted a 16.2% YoY rise in net profit to approximately ₹3,700 crore, with consolidated revenues expanding 11.5% to ₹65,436 crore. The company also announced that Noel Naval Tata will retire from the board of directors effective November 11, 2026.
- Mixed Midcap Reports: Tata Chemicals posted a consolidated net loss of ₹50 crore against a net profit of ₹154 crore in the year-ago quarter, hurt by lower realizations and elevated logistics costs. BirlaNu Limited reported a 17.3% YoY revenue jump in its domestic business alongside a 400 bps EBITDA margin expansion to 6.8%.
Geopolitical Check: Oil Prices Steady as Trump Hints at Restraint
Global energy markets stabilized after last week’s historic 16% crash—the steepest weekly decline since the pandemic:
- Rangebound Brent: Brent crude futures hovered near $97.46 to $97.80 per barrel on Monday, down 1.04% for the session, while WTI traded around $89.85 to $90.42.
- Diplomacy Signals: Prices steadied after US President Donald Trump stated that additional airstrikes against Iranian infrastructure were highly unlikely while diplomatic discussions to de-escalate the conflict proceed.
- Strait of Hormuz Bottleneck: Despite political de-escalation bets, IMF PortWatch data highlighted persistent maritime stress, registering only a single commercial vessel transit through the Strait of Hormuz on November 1 compared to the historical daily average of 85. Meanwhile, physical barrel markets remained elevated, with Abu Dhabi’s Murban crude rising 3.4% to $99.17.
- Supply Surplus Horizon: JPMorgan projected the global crude market shifting back into surplus, estimating an oversupply of 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) in September and 1.4 million bpd in October as regional production resumes.
Indian financial markets will remain closed on Tuesday for Diwali celebrations and will resume normal trading operations on Wednesday, November 11.
