Sensex, Nifty rally up to 1% in early trade on IT stocks, firm global cues

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty rallied up to 1% in early trade on Wednesday (October 21, 2026), rebounding from the previous session’s sharp losses as buying in IT stocks, Reliance Industries and firm global cues lifted investors’ sentiment.The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 822.64 points, or 1.11%, to 74,675.54 in the morning trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty advanced 217.65 points, or 0.95%, to 23,106.60.Among the Sensex constituents, Infosys led the gainers, rising over 3%, followed by Tata Consultancy Services (2.6%) and UltraTech Cement (2.3%).Tech Mahindra, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, ITC, Larsen & Toubro, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, and Asian Paints were also among the gainers.Bajaj Finance, Bharat Electronics Ltd, IndiGo, Trent, Eternal, Bajaj Finserv, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, Maruti Suzuki India, Titan and Axis Bank were among the laggards.The ₹30,213-crore Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Jio Platforms attracted 85% subscription from the investors within minutes of opening.“Since the Q2 results season has started on a positive note and some positive surprises are likely in the broader market, the market action going forward will be more stock-specific and results-sensitive,” said V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments Limited.Despite the external headwinds, this is a stock picker’s market now, he added.Domestic equity markets were closed on Tuesday (October 20, 2026) on account of Dussehra.Asian markets were trading on a mixed note, with South Korea’s Kospi index rising 2.6% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 benchmark gaining nearly 1%.However, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Shanghai’s SSE Composite index traded lower.U.S. markets ended largely higher on Tuesday (October 20, 2026).Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 1.46% to $110.38 per barrel.Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹1,148.64 crore on Monday (October 19, 2026), while Domestic Institutional Investors bought shares worth ₹3,201.19 crore, according to exchange data.“FIIs remained net sellers, offloading equities worth approximately ₹1,148 crore. Meanwhile, DIIs continued to support the market with net purchases of around ₹3,200 crore, partially offsetting foreign investor outflows amid broader market weakness,” said Sachin Gupta, VP – Technical Research at Choice Broking Private Limited.Traders may remain selective, with global cues and Q2 earnings likely to influence intraday direction, Gupta said.On Monday (October 19, 2026), the 30-share BSE Sensex tumbled 876.37 points to settle at 73,852.90. The broader NSE Nifty dropped 257.20 points to end at 22,888.95.