Stock Market Today, 26 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 Monday. Grab your chai, because the share market today opens after a rough week — the Nifty lost a little over 2% in five sessions, midcaps and smallcaps got hit much harder, and crude oil shot up to a six-month high on Friday. The one bit of comfort this morning: GIFT Nifty today is trading slightly in the green, Brent has cooled off a touch in Asian hours, and Hang Seng is up while the rest of Asia is soft.

So the mood for Nifty 50 and Sensex is cautious rather than panicky. FII DII data continues to tell the same story we have seen all October — foreign investors pulling money out, domestic institutions quietly absorbing it. And one more thing to keep in your diary: tomorrow, Tuesday 27 October, is the F&O expiry day, and not just the weekly one — it is the monthly expiry too, since it is the last Tuesday of the month. That usually means extra swings in the last hour.

Plenty of people search for “Nifty prediction today”. We don’t make predictions here. What we do is lay out the numbers, the levels analysts are watching, and the news — and you decide.

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

Wall Street had a weak Friday. The Dow took the biggest knock, down over 650 points, as a tech sell-off and worries about debt-funded AI spending soured the mood. The Nasdaq ended only mildly lower after giving up early gains.

Asian markets this morning are mixed, and that is why global market cues today are hard to read in one direction. Taiwan is the big loser, dragged by chip names. Mainland China and Hong Kong are holding up.

Crude oil is the big one to track. Brent jumped to its highest level since April on Friday on reports of possible US-Israel action against Iran after the US midterm elections on 3 November. No strike has actually happened — the market is pricing the risk of supply disruption. This morning prices have eased slightly, which is a small relief for India, since we import most of our oil.

A weaker rupee plus costly crude is an uncomfortable combination for India’s import bill, and it is one reason foreign money has been heading out this month.

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 trades for far longer hours than our market, it is the first clue traders get about how the Nifty may open. Think of it as a weather forecast, not a guarantee.

A small premium over Friday’s Nifty close points to a flat-to-mildly-positive start, with the index hovering around the 22,600 zone. Note that this is a publicly delayed snapshot, so the number can move before the 9:15 AM bell.

Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex Today: Previous Close

Friday was the fourth straight down day. The headline indices lost relatively little, but look under the bonnet and the damage was much worse — Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 both fell far more than the Nifty, which usually means broad selling in the smaller names.

For the full week (19–23 October), it was an across-the-board decline:

Not a single sectoral index closed the week higher. The only pockets of strength were a few individual IT names — HCL Technologies rose about 3.1% and TCS about 2.6% over the week.

Friday’s movers on the Nifty 50:

Nifty Support and Resistance Levels for Today

These are the levels market analysts say they are watching, based on charts and options data. They are for reference, not forecasts — nobody knows which way the index will actually go.

Other reference points analysts have flagged: a swing-low trend line near 22,372 on the Nifty, and the daily 20-EMA around 22,840 as the hurdle on the upside. The Nifty also slipped below its weekly 200-EMA last week. Daily RSI is at 42 for the Nifty and 38 for Bank Nifty — RSI is simply a momentum gauge from 0 to 100, where below 30 is considered oversold and above 70 overbought.

India VIX is the “fear index”. It measures how much movement traders expect in the Nifty over the next 30 days. It has now risen for four sessions in a row and is above 16, which tells you option writers are charging more for risk — in plain words, the market expects bumpier days.

FII DII Data Today: Friday, 23 October 2026 (₹ Crore)

FII means Foreign Institutional Investor (overseas funds). DII means Domestic Institutional Investor — our own mutual funds, insurance companies and pension funds. Watching both together tells you who is supporting the market and who is exiting.

Good news on Friday: foreign investors were net buyers for a change, and domestic funds bought heavily too.

Session-by-session for the week (20 October was a Dussehra holiday):

So the month’s pattern is clear: roughly ₹51,000 crore of foreign money out, around ₹59,000 crore of domestic money in. Your SIP money is a big part of that domestic cushion.

Stocks in News Today: Stocks to Watch on 26 October 2026

These stocks are in focus purely because of news — results, orders, deals or corporate actions. This is a factual list, not a recommendation of any kind.

Key Events Today: Q2 Results, Crude Oil and a Big Central Bank Week

Today is mainly an earnings day. Tata Consumer, Paytm, ITC Hotels and APL Apollo Tubes are among the companies reporting September-quarter numbers, and the Infosys guidance cut will keep IT in the conversation.

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

Let us decode the jargon first, because the F&O (futures and options) section is where most new investors get lost.

Open Interest (OI) is the total number of futures and options contracts that are still open — not yet closed or expired. Rising OI at a particular strike price means traders are building positions there. A strike with very high call OI often acts like a ceiling, because option writers have an interest in the index staying below it. A strike with very high put OI often acts like a floor.

PCR (Put-Call Ratio) divides total put open interest by total call open interest. Below 1 generally means more call writing than put writing, which is read as a cautious-to-bearish tilt. Above 1 is read as the opposite. It is a sentiment 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 right there. It is a rough magnet level, nothing more.

MWPL (Market Wide Position Limit) is the maximum derivative exposure the exchange allows in a single stock, calculated from its free-float shares. When open interest crosses 95% of MWPL, the stock enters the F&O ban — no new positions allowed, you can only reduce existing ones. It exits the ban once usage falls below 80%. A ban is a risk-control measure, not a verdict on the company.

Fresh call writing was also seen at 22,700 and 22,800, which analysts read as positions capping the immediate upside. Again: observation, not forecast.

Expiry dates to remember. Nifty weekly options expire every Tuesday, Sensex weekly options expire every Thursday, and the monthly F&O series expires on the last Tuesday of the month. Tomorrow, 27 October 2026, is therefore both the Nifty weekly expiry and the October monthly expiry — a double event, which tends to raise volumes and intraday swings.

F&O ban list today:

Stocks close to the ban threshold, worth tracking: Manappuram Finance (87.33%), Inox Wind (86.19%), LIC Housing Finance (85.89%) and Bandhan Bank (81.04%). These were not in the ban as of the last published list. The exchange publishes the final list each morning, so do check it before placing F&O orders — in the cash or delivery segment, these stocks trade normally.

FAQs: Share Market Today (26 October 2026)

What is GIFT Nifty today?

GIFT Nifty was at 22,611.00 at around 8:03 AM IST, up 46 points or 0.20% from its previous close of 22,565. That small premium points to a flat-to-slightly-positive opening for the Nifty 50. GIFT Nifty is the Nifty futures contract traded at GIFT City in Gujarat, and it was earlier known as SGX Nifty when it traded in Singapore.

What were the Nifty 50 and Sensex closing levels on 23 October 2026?

The Nifty 50 closed at 22,600.00, down 87.65 points or 0.39%. The BSE Sensex closed at 73,123.83, down 125.56 points or 0.17%. It was the fourth straight session of declines. For the week, the Nifty fell about 2.36% and Nifty Bank about 2.79%.

What are the Nifty support and resistance levels today?

Analysts are watching 22,550–22,500 as immediate support, with 22,400–22,350 below that and 22,200–22,000 as a bigger support zone. On the upside, 22,700–22,800 is the immediate resistance, then 23,000–23,100, and 23,300–23,500 further up. Options data puts the highest put OI at 22,000 and the highest call OI at 23,500. These are reference levels analysts track, not forecasts of where the index will go.

What was the FII DII data for 23 October 2026?

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of ₹887.65 crore in the cash market, and domestic institutional investors were net buyers of ₹3,235.36 crore — a combined inflow of ₹4,123.01 crore. For the full week, though, FIIs were net sellers of ₹2,697.37 crore while DIIs bought ₹10,942.19 crore. For October so far, FIIs have sold about ₹51,466 crore and DIIs have bought about ₹59,110 crore.

When is the Nifty expiry this week?

Nifty weekly options expire on Tuesday, 27 October 2026. That same day is also the October monthly F&O expiry, because it is the last Tuesday of the month. Sensex weekly options expire on Thursday, 29 October 2026.

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

As per the last published list, Ambuja Cements, Steel Authority of India (SAIL) and Kaynes Technology India were continuing in the F&O ban period. In a ban, traders cannot open fresh derivative positions in that stock and can only reduce existing ones. The exchange releases the final list each morning, so always verify before trading F&O. Cash and delivery trading in these stocks is unaffected.

Why is crude oil in focus for Indian markets right now?

Brent crude hit its highest level since April on Friday on reports of possible US-Israel strikes on Iran after the US midterm elections on 3 November. No strike has been reported — the market is reacting to the risk of supply disruption. This matters to India because we import the bulk of our crude, so costlier oil widens the import bill, pressures the rupee (which closed at ₹94.93 on Friday) and raises input costs for paints, tyres, aviation and chemicals. Brent eased to about $115.68 in Asian trade this morning.

Data sources: NSE and BSE exchange data as reported by Kotak Neo, NiftyTrader, Upstox, Rupeezy, Groww, Business Standard, Navia, EquityBulls and Yahoo Finance. Index and FII/DII figures are provisional and as of the 23 October 2026 close unless stated otherwise. GIFT Nifty, Asian market and crude oil levels are morning snapshots of 26 October 2026 and will change through the day. Please verify on the NSE and BSE websites before acting on any number.

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.