Market Pulse — 12 October 2026

Benchmarks

Closing levels, 12 Oct 2026 · Source: NSE / BSE

Sectoral scorecard

NSE sectoral indices, ranked best to worst

Movers

Nifty 50 constituents · NSE, 12 Oct 2026 16:00

NSE's gainers feed for the Nifty 50 carried 13 advancing names for the session, so 13 of the fifty constituents closed higher. Midcap and smallcap mover lists are omitted: NSE's constituent endpoint (api/equity-stockIndices) has been unreachable for eight consecutive editions and no closing wrap carried a dated broader-market mover list for this session.

Institutional flows

FII/FPI and DII activity in the cash segment

Cash-market figures for 12 Oct 2026, from NSE. Provisional exchange data.

Corporate & macro desk

What moved the tape and what the IR desks were announcing

• September CPI at 5.54% — the first print since the rate rise — MoSPI put retail inflation at 5.54% in September on the revised 2024 base, up from 4.83% in August. The Consumer Food Price Index rose to 7.74% from 5.97%, with rural food inflation at 8.06% and urban at 7.18%. Onion inflation reached 108.09%, against 48.78% in August; ginger was 62.85% and garlic 54.62%, while potatoes fell 11.50% and tomatoes 8.62%. Rural headline inflation was 6.08% and urban 4.88%. It is the first reading since the MPC raised the repo rate 25 basis points to 5.50% on 7 October.
• The 10-year rose 10 bp to 7.40% after the CRR change — The benchmark 10-year government bond yield climbed 10 basis points to 7.40%. The RBI raised the minimum daily CRR maintenance requirement for scheduled banks from 90% to 99%, effective from the fortnight beginning 16 October, in a notification issued after a liquidity review. Religare Broking's Ajit Mishra said the move reflects concern that the withdrawal could tighten system liquidity and raise short-term funding costs; SBI Mutual Fund's Rajeev Radhakrishnan said further absorption through OMO sales is likely until the weighted average call rate aligns more durably with the repo rate.
• The RBI's rupee package took effect on Monday — Measures announced on 10 October began operating. From 12 October the central bank meets the entire daily dollar requirement of Indian Oil, BPCL and HPCL directly from reserves, taking that demand out of the spot market. Authorised dealers may no longer allow rebooking of cancelled rupee derivative contracts, deliverable or non-deliverable, though rollovers at maturity remain permitted; the threshold for transactions without an underlying exposure falls from $100 million to $5 million equivalent; and a 20% Foreign Exchange Risk Reserve must be held with the RBI against eligible current-account hedges above $2 million notional.
• The rupee's best session of the run — 96 paise to 95.75 — PTI wire copy put the close at 95.75 to the dollar, up 96 paise from 96.71. Early-trade reports of 95.80 and a 91-paise gain were intraday figures, not the close. The currency had been trading near its all-time low of 96.96 set in May.
• Reserves have fallen for four straight weeks — Foreign exchange reserves dropped $12.95 billion to $734.60 billion in the week ended 2 October, a fourth consecutive weekly decline — the backdrop against which the oil dollar window has to be read. The next weekly figure, for the week ended 9 October, is due on 16 October.
• Domestic money absorbed the foreign selling — FIIs were net sellers of ₹1,708.48 crore in the cash segment, buying ₹12,583.21 crore against ₹14,291.69 crore of sales. DIIs bought ₹15,506.73 crore and sold ₹12,461.71 crore for a net ₹3,045.02 crore. Closing wraps attributed the session's weakness to rising yields, continued foreign outflows and profit-taking, with the rupee's recovery providing partial relief.
• Where the tape split — Nifty FMCG fell 1.67% and Nifty PSU Bank 1.18%, the weakest of the sectoral indices, while Nifty Media rose 4.60% and Nifty Chemicals 1.24%. The broader market held up: Nifty Smallcap 100 added 1.42% and Nifty Microcap 250 0.85%, against the Nifty 50's 0.70% fall. India VIX rose 5.98% to 15.24.

Corporate actions ahead

Dividends, rights, splits and bonuses going ex between 13 October and 12 November, as filed with NSE · these four are the full list for that window

Board meetings & results calendar

Scheduled board meetings — the IR calendar for the days ahead

Economic calendar

Data releases and policy events in the days ahead

Commodities, currency & global

Bullion here is the MCX December contract quoted at about 3:37 PM IST, not a retail 24K/22K rate: aggregator quotes for the day diverged by roughly 1% (₹1,49,880 to ₹1,51,410 per 10g for 24K), too wide to publish as a single reference. Brent is the December contract inside the Indian session. The rupee close is the PTI wire figure of 95.75, up 96 paise from 96.71. The three US index cards are Wall Street's close on Monday 12 October — the same calendar session, which closed after the Indian market.