Stock Market Today, 23 October 2026: GIFT Nifty, Sensex and Nifty Pre-Market Cues, FII DII Data and Stocks to Watch

NSE pre-market report · Data as of 8:20 AM IST · NSE and BSE open at 9:15 AM IST

Good morning, and welcome to your daily chai-break briefing on the share market today. Last evening was a quiet bleed rather than a crash — the Nifty slipped for a third straight session as crude oil stayed hot after the Saudi Aramco oilfield attack. Overnight, Wall Street’s tech corner took a proper beating, with the Nasdaq down 2.6% on worries about how much money the big companies are pouring into AI data centres. And yet GIFT Nifty today is pointing upward, around 155 points higher. So we have a bit of a tug-of-war on our hands before Nifty 50 and Sensex open at 9:15 AM.

Below is everything in one place: global cues, the previous close, FII DII data, the stocks genuinely in the news (Infosys and roughly forty other Q2 results, plus the Jio Platforms IPO’s final day), and where we stand on F&O expiry — the monthly one lands next Tuesday. People search for “Nifty prediction today” every single morning, so let us be clear from the start: we do not make predictions. We lay out the data and explain what it means, and you decide.

1. Global Market Cues Today: US Markets, Asian Markets, Crude Oil and Rupee

The overnight story was a split screen in America. The Dow Jones finished almost exactly flat, but the Nasdaq had its worst day since June. Meta fell about 7% after its results and a 2-for-1 stock split announcement, Tesla slid 3% despite beating on earnings (investors did not like the planned spending for 2027 and 2028), and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index was down 6.4% at one point. The common thread: markets are getting nervous about the enormous capital expenditure behind the AI boom.

Asian markets picked up that mood this morning and are trading lower across the board.

Now the part that matters most for India — crude oil and the rupee. India imports close to 90% of the crude it uses, so when Brent goes up, our import bill, inflation maths and currency all feel it.

The rupee snapped an eight-day winning streak on Thursday, closing near ₹94.82 a dollar. It had actually opened stronger — foreign money coming in for the Jio Platforms IPO helped — but climbing crude wiped those gains out. One more number worth noting: the 10-year Indian government bond yield touched 7.46%, its highest since November 2022. Rising bond yields usually mean borrowing is getting costlier, which matters for banks, NBFCs and anyone with a big loan book.

2. GIFT Nifty Today (SGX Nifty): The First Pre-Market Indicator

GIFT Nifty is the Nifty futures contract that trades at GIFT City in Gujarat. It used to be called SGX Nifty when it traded in Singapore. Because it runs for nearly 21 hours a day, it reacts to US and Asian news long before our own market opens — which is why everyone checks it first thing in the morning. Think of it as a weather forecast for the opening bell: useful, often right about direction, but never a guarantee.

So GIFT Nifty is signalling a gap-up start, which is a little surprising given how red Asia looks. Two things may explain it: the Nifty had already fallen for three sessions and some bargain-hunting is showing up, and India has less direct exposure to the AI-spending worry than Taiwan, Korea or Japan. A gap-up open simply means the first trade of the day is higher than yesterday’s close — it says nothing about where the index finishes.

3. Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex Today: Previous Close

Thursday was a broad-based decline. Only 1,323 stocks advanced on the NSE while 2,670 declined and 155 ended unchanged — so the small and mid-sized names took more pain than the headline indices suggest.

A note on the “week so far” column: this is a four-day week because Tuesday, 20 October was a trading holiday for Dussehra. The figures compare Thursday’s close with the previous Friday’s close (Nifty 23,146.15, Sensex 74,729.27, Bank Nifty 55,844.00). Both headline indices are down about 2% for the week, which follows a strong preceding week of roughly 3% gains.

Sector-wise, defensive and consumption pockets were hit hardest, while banks held up relatively well.

Nifty Support and Resistance Levels for Today

A quick explainer first, since this is where most beginners get confused. Support is a price zone where buying has previously shown up and slowed a fall. Resistance is a zone where selling has previously appeared and capped a rise. They are not magic lines and they are not promises — they are simply areas where a lot of past trading happened, so a lot of traders watch them. The levels below are the zones analysts and option traders are currently tracking. They are for reference, not forecasts.

India VIX is the volatility index — the market’s “nervousness meter”. Around 15.8 it is mid-range: not calm, not panicked. A reading under roughly 13 usually means the market is relaxed, while a jump past 20 tends to coincide with sharp swings. Worth keeping an eye on, given how much is going on with crude.

4. FII DII Data Today: Thursday, 22 October 2026 (₹ Crore)

FII stands for Foreign Institutional Investor — overseas funds investing in Indian shares. DII means Domestic Institutional Investor, which covers our own mutual funds, insurance companies, pension funds and banks. Watching the two together tells you who is doing the buying and who is doing the selling. “Gross buy” is everything they bought, “gross sell” is everything they sold, and “net” is the difference.

The familiar 2026 pattern repeated: foreigners selling, domestic funds absorbing it. Here is how the shortened week has gone so far.

That month-to-date line is the one to sit with. Foreign investors have pulled out roughly ₹52,000 crore from Indian cash equities this October, and domestic institutions have put in roughly ₹56,000 crore. Your SIP money is, quite literally, on the other side of those foreign sell orders. It explains why the market has wobbled without collapsing.

5. Stocks in News Today: Stocks to Watch on 23 October 2026

These are factual observations only — earnings already announced, corporate actions, IPO events and F&O ban entries. Being “in the news” says nothing about whether a stock is worth owning.

6. Key Events Today: Jio IPO Closes, Infosys Q2 and Two Listings

Today is unusually busy, so here is the running order.

• Jio Platforms IPO closes. At ₹30,213 crore it is the largest public issue India has seen. By the end of day two it was subscribed 3.71 times overall — institutional investors (QIB) 9.42 times, non-institutional 2.90 times, and retail 1.1 times. Listing is proposed for 28 October.
• Paras Healthcare IPO closes on the same day.
• Two listings: Zetwerk Manufacturing Business and Bonfiglioli Transmissions India both debut today.
• Q2 FY27 earnings: roughly forty-plus companies report, led by Infosys, BPCL, JSW Steel, Jindal Steel, Dr Reddy’s, IndusInd Bank and Coforge.
• Crude oil and West Asia. Brent is above $114 after the Aramco oilfield attack. Separately, the US invoked a Cold War-era Defence Act to incentivise domestic oil and gas production — relevant to how supply worries play out from here.
• Bond yields. The Indian 10-year at 7.46% is at its highest since November 2022, something banks and NBFCs will be watching.

7. F&O Today: Nifty Expiry, Open Interest and F&O Ban List

Let us decode the jargon before the numbers, because this section confuses almost everyone at first.

F&O means futures and options — contracts whose value is derived from an underlying stock or index. Open interest (OI) is the number of such contracts currently open and not yet squared off. Rising OI means fresh money is entering a position; falling OI means positions are being closed.

PCR, or Put-Call Ratio, divides the open interest in put options by that in call options. Puts are typically bought to protect against or profit from a fall; calls, from a rise. A PCR below 1 means more call OI than put OI. Traders read very low readings as crowded optimism and very high ones as crowded pessimism — but it is a rough mood gauge, not a signal.

Max pain is the strike price at which the largest number of option buyers would lose money if the index expired exactly there. Option writers (sellers) are usually the bigger, better-capitalised players, so the index sometimes drifts toward this level near expiry. “Sometimes” is doing a lot of work in that sentence.

Read simply: the heaviest call writing sits at 23,000, which is why that strike is talked about as a resistance reference, and the heaviest put writing sits at 22,000, treated as a support reference. A PCR of 0.82 suggests call writers have been more active than put writers. Again — reference points, not forecasts.

Expiry dates this week and next. Nifty weekly and monthly contracts expire on Tuesdays. This week’s Nifty weekly expiry fell on Monday, 19 October, because Tuesday the 20th was the Dussehra holiday. The next one is Tuesday, 27 October — and because that is the last Tuesday of the month, it is also the monthly F&O expiry, which usually brings heavier volumes and more rollover activity. Sensex weekly contracts expire on Thursdays, so yesterday was one; the next is 29 October.

F&O ban list. When a stock’s open interest crosses 95% of its MWPL (Market Wide Position Limit — the maximum derivative exposure the exchange permits in that stock, based on its free-float shares), the stock enters a ban period. During the ban you can only reduce existing positions, not create new ones. It exits once usage falls back below 80%. This is a risk-control mechanism, nothing more — a banned stock is not a “bad” stock, and it continues to trade normally in the cash segment.

NSE publishes the fresh ban list shortly before the open each day, so do check the official list on the NSE website before the 9:15 AM bell — today’s list may differ from the one above.

FAQs: Share Market Today (23 October 2026)

What is GIFT Nifty today?

GIFT Nifty was around 22,864 at about 8:13 AM IST, up roughly 155 points from the previous Nifty futures close, pointing to a gap-up start. An earlier 6:59 AM reading had it at 22,839.50, up 151.85 points (0.67%).

What were the Nifty 50 and Sensex closing levels yesterday?

On Thursday, 22 October 2026, the Nifty 50 closed at 22,687.65, down 123.70 points (0.54%), and the BSE Sensex closed at 73,249.39, down 460.30 points (0.62%). It was the Nifty’s third consecutive losing session.

What are the Nifty support and resistance levels today?

The zones analysts are currently watching are 22,700–22,800 and 22,500–22,600 on the downside, and 23,000–23,300 followed by 23,400–23,500 on the upside. Option open interest is heaviest at the 23,000 call and 22,000 put strikes, with max pain at 22,850. These are reference levels drawn from past trading and option positioning — not forecasts.

What was the FII DII data for 22 October 2026?

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of ₹3,458.70 crore in the cash market, while domestic institutional investors were net buyers of ₹2,891.32 crore. For October so far, FIIs have net sold about ₹52,354 crore and DIIs have net bought about ₹55,875 crore.

When is the Nifty expiry this week?

The Nifty weekly expiry fell on Monday, 19 October this week, because Tuesday, 20 October was a Dussehra trading holiday. The next Nifty expiry is Tuesday, 27 October, which is also the monthly F&O expiry since it is the last Tuesday of October. Sensex weekly contracts expire on Thursdays.

Which stocks are in the F&O ban list today?

In the latest published NSE list (for the 22 October session), Ambuja Cements, Kaynes Technology India and Steel Authority of India (SAIL) were in the ban period. Bandhan Bank, Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals, Vodafone Idea, Inox Wind, LIC Housing Finance and Manappuram Finance were close to the threshold. NSE publishes the day’s official list just before the open, so verify there.

Why did the Nasdaq fall 2.6% and does it matter for Indian IT stocks?

The Nasdaq Composite fell 2.60% to 26,008.86 as investors questioned the scale of AI infrastructure spending. Meta dropped about 7% after results and a 2-for-1 split announcement, Tesla fell 3% on higher planned capex, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index was down 6.4% intraday. Indian IT has a different business model — services and outsourcing rather than AI hardware or hyperscale data centres — but global technology sentiment and client budgets do influence it, and the Nifty IT index had already fallen 1.31% on Thursday. Infosys reports Q2 results today, which is the more direct domestic trigger.

Data sources: NSE and BSE official data, Business Standard, Kotak Neo, NiftyTrader, DSIJ, Upstox, India Infoline, HDFC Sky and PTI reports. Figures are as reported by these sources at approximately 8:20 AM IST on 23 October 2026 and may be revised. Pre-market indicators including GIFT Nifty move continuously and will differ by the time you read this. Where sources differed slightly on a figure, the more widely reported value has been used. Today’s official F&O ban list is published by NSE shortly before the market opens.

This report is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Please consult a SEBI-registered investment advisor before making any trading or investment decisions.