Market close October 23: What fell, what held and what the reports leave out

What fell: the Sensex by 125.56 points to 73,123.83 and the Nifty by 87.65 points to 22,600.

What fell harder: the Nifty Midcap 100 by 2.21% and the Smallcap 100 by 2.94%.

What drove it: Brent crude near 114 dollars, a five-month high, and Middle East tensions.

Discrepancy: Kotak Neo’s lists of Nifty gainers and losers are inconsistent, so they are not used here.

What is not reported: market breadth, institutional flows and the rupee.

The BSE Sensex fell 125.56 points, or 0.17%, to settle at 73,123.83, according to the reports.

The Nifty 50 fell 87.65 points, or 0.39%, to settle at 22,600, according to the same reports.

Business Standard describes it as the Sensex’s fourth straight daily decline.

The Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 2.21% and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index fell 2.94%, according to Kotak Neo.

The Nifty Metal index fell 2.71% and the Nifty Realty index fell 2.38%, according to the same report.

ANI’s headline says all sectors closed in the red.

Business Standard’s headline says the volatility index, or VIX, rose 6%.

Brent crude December futures were at 114.29 dollars a barrel and WTI at 101.03 dollars around 3:37 pm, according to Kotak Neo.

Prices kept rising after a 4% jump in the previous session and reached a five-month high, according to the same report.

Kotak Neo links the rise to Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and the related supply concerns.

MCX gold December futures were at Rs 1,42,734 per 10 grams, down 0.40%, and silver December futures were at Rs 1,95,600 per kilogram, down 2%, according to Kotak Neo.

The report attributes the decline to rising crude prices and global uncertainty.

Foreign investor selling and Middle East tensions were also cited by the reports.

HPCL refinanced about Rs 50,000 crore of debt for its Rajasthan refinery, cutting borrowing costs by nearly 105 basis points, according to Kotak Neo.

BSE building, Mumbai (file image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0