Following the Dussehra holiday, the market remained under pressure despite selective strength in technology stocks. On October 21, the Nifty slipped further to 22,811.35 while the Sensex ended at 73,709.69. Strong earnings-driven momentum in Infosys, TCS, HCL Technologies, and Tech Mahindra helped the IT sector outperform, but weakness across autos, metals, private banks, realty, and consumer stocks offset these gains. The broader market continued to underperform, with smallcaps and midcaps witnessing sharper declines than frontline indices. Rising India VIX levels reflected increasing nervousness among traders and investors.
