The turnaround was sudden and relentless. In just seven trading sessions, the NSE Nifty 50 blasted through 25,000, clawing back from 22,500 at the end of October. The benchmark index jumped 7.5% over the past week—its steepest weekly advance since February 2021. Foreign institutional investors, who spent most of the year liquidating domestic holdings, reversed course in force. Institutional desks absorbed nearly ₹50,000 crore in domestic equities across six straight sessions, igniting the biggest pre-Diwali short squeeze seen in years.
Two heavyweights carried the index on their backs. HDFC Bank surged 14% across five days, matching its historic February 2021 weekly performance. Meanwhile, Reliance Industries leaped 13% across the week. On Monday alone, Reliance surged 12% following quarterly earnings, logging its largest single-day advance in six years and posting the highest single-session market capitalisation addition in Indian corporate history. When Mumbai's two biggest balance sheets fire simultaneously, the index moves in straight lines.
Banking and financial services took over the tape as the rally expanded. Lenders led gains on Tuesday and Friday, while non-banking financial companies and broader financial counters pushed the index higher on Wednesday. Stronger-than-expected corporate earnings provided fundamental air cover, while cooling crude prices removed an immediate foreign exchange tax on the broader economy.
Trade flow shifted rapidly across key market leaders over the five-day period:
| Stock / Asset | Weekly Move | Key Catalyst / Metric |
|---|---|---|
| NSE Nifty 50 | +7.5% | Reclaimed 25,000; best week since Feb 2021 |
| HDFC Bank | +14.0% | Heavy institutional accumulation across private banks |
| Reliance Industries | +13.0% | 12% post-earnings Monday surge; 6-year single-day record |
| FII Net Inflows | ~₹50,000 Cr | Sustained net buying across six trading sessions |
Political and technological shocks across the Atlantic provided a jarring backdrop. In the United States, midterm elections cost the Trump administration control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, following sustained voter pushback against high gasoline prices, surging inflation, and aggressive Federal Reserve interest-rate increases linked to the Iran conflict. That political sweep triggered the Nasdaq's largest single-day value erosion on record, puncturing artificial intelligence multiples and driving global portfolio allocators to rotate capital into under-owned emerging market largecaps.
As domestic bourses conclude Samvat 2082 and step into Samvat 2083, the technical picture has flipped from defensive consolidation to momentum buying. Traders on Dalal Street now watch whether sustained institutional foreign flows and lower energy prices can drive the benchmark index toward fresh record highs before the calendar year closes.