Nifty slips below 23,000 as bank stocks tumble

The key equity benchmarks remained under pressure in the early afternoon session on Monday, weighed down by weak global cues, rising crude oil prices and weakness in global technology stocks amid concerns over the reliability and safety of AI agents. The Nifty traded below the 23,000 level.

Investors remained focused on crude oil price movements, developments in the primary market and upcoming initial public offerings (IPOs). A series of domestic and global economic data releases due during the week are also expected to influence market expectations around monetary policy decisions by central banks.

At 12:25 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 917.53 points, or 1.24%, at 72,978.21. The Nifty 50 index was down 292.35 points, or 1.26%, at 22,848.15.

ICICI Bank (down 1.68%), Max Healthcare Institute (down 1.08%) and Bharti Airtel (down 0.56%%) were major Nifty drags.

In the broader market, the Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 1.24%. The Nifty Smallcap 100 index fell 1.35%.

On the NSE, 825 shares were trading in green, while 2599 shares were trading in red. A total of 83 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, which gauges expected near-term market volatility, jumped 13.19% to 13.77.

The Nifty 27 October 2026 futures traded at 22,952.10, a premium of 103.95 points over the spot level of 22,848.15.

The Nifty option chain for the 27 October 2026 expiry showed maximum call open interest of 44,058 contracts at the 23,000 strike, while maximum put open interest stood at 42,942 contracts at the 22,000 strike.

Buzzing Segment:

The Nifty Bank index fell 1.81% to 54576.9. Yes Bank (down 4.44%), Union Bank of India (down 3.39%), IDFC First Bank (down 2.88%), Punjab National Bank (down 2.74%) and Canara Bank (down 2.66%) were the top losers. Among the other losers were Bank of Baroda (down 2.41%), IndusInd Bank (down 1.93%), HDFC Bank (down 1.86%), AU Small Finance Bank (down 1.85%) and State Bank of India (down 1.83%) declined.

Stock in Spotlight:

Silver Touch Technologies added 1.9% after the company announced the receipt of a purchase order from the Space Applications Centre (SAC), ISRO, for the supply of high-end workstations.

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