Nifty extends losing streak as late selling offsets bank gains

Indian equities ended lower for a third session on September 30 after failing to hold an intraday recovery. Geojit Investments’ Vinod Nair attributed the late weakness to profit-taking after the rebound and renewed concern about crude prices and elevated global bond yields. The implication for the October session is continued sensitivity to energy costs and foreign flows, rather than a clear market-wide change in fundamentals.

Banks provided support. ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the leading gainers; market coverage linked buying in banks to positioning ahead of quarterly updates. HDFC Bank, by contrast, was among the larger drags. The divergence within financials helped banks outperform the broader market, but did not prevent late selling elsewhere.

Healthcare and pharmaceutical shares weakened after the Supreme Court questioned steep mark-ups by hospital operators, according to market reports. Apollo Hospitals and Max Healthcare were among the prominent laggards. The reports reviewed did not establish a separate catalyst for weakness in NBFCs and insurance or consumer durables, so attributing those moves to a specific company or policy development would go beyond the available evidence.

IT shares found some support after dovish comments from a Federal Reserve official reduced market expectations of a US rate increase. Reports linked that shift to the sector’s sensitivity to US borrowing costs and client spending. It offered some relief to the sector, but was not enough to reverse the broader session’s late weakness.

Wall Street closed mixed on September 30: the Dow and S&P 500 fell while the Nasdaq rose. Reuters reported that the US 10-year Treasury yield reached 5.306% in Asian trading on October 1, its highest since mid-2007, while the dollar remained near a two-month high. The same Reuters report said US inflation for August rose less than expected; CME FedWatch pricing put the chance of a Federal Reserve rate increase on October 28 at 38%, down from 50% a day earlier. Softer inflation tempered rate-hike bets, but high longer-term yields remained a headwind for risk appetite.

Asian equities were subdued on October 1, with Japanese shares firmer while broader regional shares and South Korea’s market were lower, Reuters reported. Crude remained sensitive to stalled US-Iran peace talks and uncertainty over Middle East supply. For India, that leaves the rupee, imported energy costs and foreign-investor appetite exposed to the same global yield and oil pressures that weighed on sentiment in September.

NSE cash-market data reported net foreign institutional selling of Rs 10,148.41 crore and net domestic institutional buying of Rs 11,271.73 crore on September 30. Domestic purchases more than offset foreign sales in the session, but the scale of foreign selling remained a source of pressure on the market.

ICICI Lombard issued FY29 guidance, and market coverage reported a positive share-price reaction. The guidance targets and a comparable analyst consensus were not available in the material reviewed, so its scale against expectations cannot be assessed here.

HDFC Bank appointed V. N. Srivatsan as chief compliance officer for a three-year term beginning January 4, 2027, according to company news reported ahead of the session. IndiGo appointed Gaurav Hazrati to lead its BluChip loyalty programme. No verified results-versus-consensus figures or notable results due on October 1 were available in the material reviewed.