Nifty slips 0.22% to 22,699 as Brent tops $115 and IT, Oil & Gas fall; Jio Platforms ends debut 27% above IPO price

A morning slide, a midday recovery, and a weak finish. Nifty opened with a 72-point gap down at 22,678, which the AMR put down to a lack of fresh global triggers and persistently weak domestic sentiment. It slipped toward 22,550 within minutes, bounced to 22,650 around 9:45 AM, then fell to an intraday low near 22,500 around 10:20 AM. Buying from the lows lifted it back above 22,600 by 11 AM and to a high near 22,775 around 1 PM, but selling at higher levels pulled it back to about 22,680 by 1:20 PM. Through the afternoon it swung between about 22,675 and 22,735, and closed at 22,698.85 — about 21 points above its open but nearly 51 points below Tuesday. Kotak Neo attributed the decline to weakness in IT shares and rising crude oil prices.

• Oil: Brent crude futures rose 1.4% to $115.47 a barrel and US crude (WTI) to $101.33 in early trade, per Reuters data cited by Kotak Neo, after Yemen's Houthi group claimed a missile strike on a major Saudi refinery — a claim Saudi authorities had not confirmed. The AMR also cited concerns over renewed US-Iran military escalation. Around 3:35 PM, Brent January 2027 futures were at $110.71 and WTI December futures at $101.21. Oil & Gas (-2.3%) was the weakest sector.

• Smaller companies edged up: Midcap 150 and Smallcap 250 rose 0.3% each, and Microcap 250 0.1%, while Nifty 50 fell 0.2% and Next 50 0.1%. Over 20 sessions they are still down 4.6%, 4.9% and 6.5%, against 0.4% for the Nifty 50.

• Valuations: Nifty 50 trades at 19.0x trailing earnings and Next 50 at 17.2x, both lower than on every day since April 2021 in the AMR's data. Midcap 150, at 26.6x, is lower than on 72% of days, while Smallcap 250, at 31.8x, is higher than on 74%.

• Options positioning: For the November 3 expiry, options imply a range of about 22,351 to 23,064. The AMR's text puts the heaviest put open interest at 21,500 and call open interest at 24,000; its open-interest chart, which shows strikes from 21,600 to 23,800, has the largest positions at 22,000 (puts) and 23,500 (calls). The 50-day moving average, at 23,305, remains the next major trend hurdle in the AMR's view.

• Commodities: By 20:02 IST, MCX crude was up 2.5% at ₹9,738 and 14.7% over 20 sessions; natural gas rose 1.5%, while gold slipped 0.3% to ₹1,43,751 and silver 1.1% to ₹1,94,661.

• Oil back above $115: Brent climbed above $115 a barrel, recovering from two sessions of losses. Besides the claimed refinery strike, the AMR cites reports that President Donald Trump was considering strikes on Iran after the upcoming midterm elections, alongside additional US military deployments.

• Robinhood misses: Robinhood shares fell 8% in premarket trading after third-quarter profit missed expectations. Crypto revenue fell 55% to $120 million amid weak investor sentiment, Bitcoin ETF outflows and uncertainty about US interest rates.

• US trade deficit widens: The US goods trade deficit widened to $134.9 billion in September, the highest since March 2025 and above the $130 billion expected. Imports rose 2.4% to a record $344.15 billion; exports rose 2.6% to $209.24 billion.

• Israel's election: The Israeli shekel weakened more than 1% to 3.1 per dollar, its lowest since April, as partial results projected 56 seats for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc and 48 for challenger Gadi Eisenkot's bloc in the 120-member Knesset.

• Industrial production slows: Industrial production grew 6.7% year on year in September, down from a revised 7.8% in August and the weakest pace in four months. Growth slowed across manufacturing, electricity and gas supply, and water-related activities, while mining output contracted further.

• A proposed cap on overseas remittances: The RBI has reportedly proposed a ₹50 lakh sub-limit on certain overseas transactions under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme, which currently lets individuals remit up to $250,000 a year. The aim is to curb dollar outflows and protect forex reserves; education and medical expenses are likely to remain exempt. It has not been issued as a rule.

• Container manufacturing scheme: The Union Cabinet approved a ₹10,000 crore Container Manufacturing Promotion Scheme, running until FY40, to build domestic capacity and reduce India's dependence on imported shipping containers.

• Carlsberg India's IPO: Carlsberg India filed its updated draft prospectus with SEBI. The issue will be entirely an offer for sale of 8.64 crore shares, with no fresh issue.

• Cipla on GLP-1 drugs: Cipla's management said it is seeing "very good adoption of GLP-1 as a therapy, particularly Tirzepatide", with month-on-month growth of 5% to 10%, and does "not expect any saturation on this front".

• No revisions yet: Every earlier figure in the AMR's chart matches what we published. Tuesday's ₹4,240 crore foreign purchase is still NSE's provisional number, as NSDL has not yet reported that day.

• Today: Provisional exchange data show foreign investors buying a net ₹872 crore and domestic institutions ₹643 crore. The foreign figure may be revised: last Thursday's provisional ₹3,459 crore sale became a ₹1,407 crore purchase in NSDL's data. Including the provisional figures, foreign investors bought a net ₹1,705 crore over the last ten sessions and domestic institutions ₹15,272 crore.

• Derivatives: Foreign investors sold a net ₹13,845 crore of index options on notional value, ₹2,063 crore of index futures, ₹1,634 crore of stock options and ₹800 crore of stock futures. The AMR notes options look far larger on this measure, so the sign matters more than the size.

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