Market Pulse — 28 October 2026

Benchmarks

Closing levels, 28 Oct 2026 · Source: NSE / BSE

Sectoral scorecard

NSE sectoral indices, ranked best to worst

Movers

Nifty 50 constituents

Breadth is withheld this edition: two wraps gave market-wide counts that were each internally consistent and flatly different — 2,178 advances to 1,957 declines on one, 1,930 to 1,628 on the other. Both sides of the NSE movers feed returned the 20-row cap, so no exact Nifty 50 count was derivable either.

Midcap movers

Nifty Midcap 100 constituents

Percentages only — the source carried no closing prices for these names. The NSE constituent feed (api/equity-stockIndices) has returned 404 for nine consecutive runs, so this block is sourced from the session wrap.

Smallcap movers

Nifty Smallcap 100 constituents

Percentages only, same source and limitation as the midcap block.

Institutional flows

FII/FPI and DII activity in the cash segment

Cash-market figures for 28 Oct 2026, from NSE. Provisional exchange data.

Corporate & macro desk

What moved the tape and what the IR desks were announcing

• Jio Platforms listed at a 21.35% premium — India's largest-ever IPO, which raised Rs 30,213 crore, opened at Rs 1,358 against the Rs 1,119 issue price and touched Rs 1,419 intraday, making Jio Platforms the second-most valuable listed company in the country. Reported market-capitalisation figures varied between sources and are not reproduced here.
• L&T's order book carried a 33% profit rise — Larsen & Toubro reported consolidated Q2 FY27 revenue of Rs 78,750 crore, up 15.8%, and net profit of Rs 5,202 crore, up 32.5%, on order inflows of Rs 1.47 lakh crore (up 28%) and an order book of Rs 8.53 lakh crore. The stock closed Rs 3,801.30, up 3.72%, the second-largest Nifty 50 gainer.
• Hindustan Unilever's best underlying sales growth in 14 quarters — HUL reported consolidated net profit of Rs 2,790 crore, up 3.9%, on turnover of Rs 18,071 crore, up 14.8%. Underlying sales growth of 15% was its highest in 14 quarters, though EBITDA margin fell 140 basis points to 22.6%. The board declared an interim dividend of Rs 19 per share, record date 12 November.
• Crude settled above $115 and dragged energy — Brent settled at $115.32 a barrel, up $1.44 (1.26%), and WTI at $102.78, up $2.88 (2.88%), after reports of an attack on a Saudi refinery. Nifty Oil & Gas fell 2.27%, the worst sectoral showing, with Reliance Industries down 3.19% and ONGC down 2.16%.
• IT was the session's single biggest drag — Nifty IT fell 1.98%. Infosys closed Rs 1,123.15, down 3.43%, with Tech Mahindra down 1.92%, TCS down 1.48% and HCL Technologies down 1.37%. By index points, Reliance Industries took the most off the Nifty 50 at 55.86, ahead of Infosys at 30.80 and Bharti Airtel at 20.93.
• The Fed held, and both dissents wanted a hike — The US Federal Reserve kept its policy rate at 3.75-4.00% in a 10-2 vote, with both dissenters favouring an increase; the statement called growth strong and inflation elevated. The decision landed after the Indian close. CME FedWatch pricing cited during the session put an 84% probability on a December hike.
• The rupee weakened again on crude; the wire copy disagreed — The rupee closed at 95.22 to the dollar, about 11 paise weaker than the previous session's 95.1150, with elevated oil prices cited as the pressure. A separate set of wire reports put the close at 95.28, down 21 paise, which does not reconcile against the same agency's own 27 October figure. The dated, internally consistent reading is published here and the other named.

Corporate actions ahead

Dividends, bonuses and splits going ex over the coming sessions · Source: NSE / BSE

Board meetings & results calendar

Scheduled board meetings — the IR calendar for the days ahead

IPOs open now

Four mainboard issues were taking bids during the 28 October session. GMP as at 28 Oct 2026, 10:30 AM IST, from ipoji.com.

Final day to bid on 29 Oct: BLS Polymers and SFC Environmental Technologies.

Grey market premium (GMP) is an unofficial, unregulated indication of sentiment in an off-market trade. It is not a forecast of the listing price, is not reported to or sanctioned by any exchange or regulator, and can move sharply through the bidding window. It is shown for awareness only and should not be relied on. The whole GMP column is taken from a single source at a single stamped time; a blank cell means not sourced, not zero. The subscription column is omitted this edition: no single tracker carried a dated, in-session figure for all four issues, and the readings available for BLS Polymers ranged from 9.60x to 35.30x, with EAAA India Alternatives' final-day figure still showing as a placeholder everywhere. Shares offered are NSE's issueSize field, which excludes the anchor portion where one was placed — for BLS Polymers, 1,19,00,000 shares on offer alongside a 51,00,000-share anchor book finalised on 26 October. Basis-of-allotment and listing dates, and anchor status, were unavailable for the rows left blank.

Economic calendar

Data releases and policy events in the days ahead

Commodities, currency & global

Bullion and the rupee are at the Indian close. Brent and the three US indices are the 28 October settlement and close, which land after Indian hours. Gold is the goodreturns series (28 Oct, 10:45 IST), whose stated changes reconcile to the rupee against the previous edition; a second series read 24K at ₹1,44,290 and called the day lower, so the direction is not agreed. Silver is a retail reference rate (₹1,96,120 on a second source). Retail bullion quotes vary by city.