Opening Bell: Sensex up 100 points, Nifty inching towards 25,000; Max Healthcare rebounds, SBI Life as top laggard

The Indian equities opened on a flat note after tracking mixed global cues in today's session. The BSE Sensex was at 81,318.35, rising by 111.18 points or 0.14%, while the NSE Nifty50 index changed by 33 points, adding 0.13%, to 24,927.65. 

Max Healthcare emerged as the top gainer in today’s trade on the NSE after ending Friday’s (October 3) session at the bottom. The shares rose by 3.44% to trade currently a Rs 1106 apiece. Apollo Hospitals was second on the Nifty50 list, rising by 2.17%, followed by Axis Bank. which rose by 1.33%. 

On the BSE Sensex list, Bajaj Finance led by 2.32%, followed by Bajaj Finserv, which was up by 1.13% and Axis Bank by 1.03%. 

At the bottom of the Nifty list, SBI Life emerged as the top laggard, declining by 1.34%. Tata Motors, which saw a positive performance last week after announcing the demerger of its passenger vehicle and commercial vehicle businesses, currently trades below by a 1.10%. 

Cipla, Mahindra and Mahindra, and Titan too were in the bottom five in today’s session. Whereas on the Sensex list, PowerGrid, Tata Steel and Adani Ports were the top losers, declining between 1% and 1.3%. 

The Nifty50 constituents were in an equal split, as 25 stocks advanced and 25 declined. While in the Sensex 30 list, 13 stocks gained and 17 were losers. 

Sectoral indices were a mixed bag. Nifty Bank and Nifty Private Bank were top performers, even though their gains were marginal, rising by 0.43% and 0.62% respectively. Many banks, such as HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, Bank of Baroda, Kotak Mahindra Bank, amongst others, have posted Q2FY2026 results, thereby buoying the bank indices. Nifty IT saw a marginal rise of 0.19%, as news of unions and employers filed a lawsuit against the steep prices of H1B visas. 

On the other hand, Nifty Metal and Nifty Media declined by 0.54% and 0.31%, as investors booked profits after the indices soared in previous sessions. Nifty Auto and Nifty FMCG also declined by nearly 0.50% each. 

Broader markets showed positive sentiments, as all indices were in the green, with Nifty Midcap50 and Smallcap50 adding 0.37% and 0.24% respectively. India VIX, or the volatility index, was up by 2.53%, at 10.32, reflecting the cautious investor sentiment for today’s session.