Nifty 50 Plunges Below 22,400 to Mark First Eight-Week Losing Streak Since 2001

The Indian equity market extended its prolonged slump on Thursday, October 1, 2026, putting the benchmark Nifty 50 on course for its eighth consecutive weekly loss—a rare losing streak unseen on Dalal Street since 2001. With financial markets scheduled to remain closed on Friday, October 2, in observance of Gandhi Jayanti, Thursday's trading session marked the final session of the truncated trading week, confirming the milestone.

During Thursday's session, the Nifty 50 dropped as much as 1.24%, or over 280 points, breaching key support to trade near 22,340, touching its lowest levels since April 2026. The 30-share BSE Sensex slumped over 839 points, or 1.16%, to hover around 71,640 after hitting intraday troughs near 71,528.

Market volatility experienced an aggressive uptick, with the India VIX surging 13.25% to reach 15.28, reflecting heightened risk aversion. Sectoral losses were pervasive; Auto and Media indices took the brunt of the hit, skidding 3.87% and 2.89% respectively, while market breadth tilted heavily in favor of bears, with more than 3,100 stocks on the BSE declining.

Key Triggers Behind the Market Selloff:

• Relentless FPI Outflows: Foreign portfolio investors dumped ₹10,148 crore worth of Indian equities on September 30 alone, recording their heaviest single-day outflow in nearly six months and bringing total monthly FPI net sales in September to ₹51,999 crore. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) provided counter-support with ₹11,272 crore in purchases on the same day—capping monthly institutional purchases at ₹80,619 crore—yet failed to halt the slide.
• Macro Headwinds and Currency Pressures: Elevated US Treasury yields triggered a shift away from emerging market assets, while the Indian rupee depreciated, hovering around 96 per US dollar.
• Liquidity Drain: Heavy primary market issuance and ongoing IPO fundraising have absorbed substantial secondary market liquidity, compounding pressure across large- and mid-cap shares.

Historical Perspective: A Milder Drawdown

Prolonged losing streaks of this duration are exceptionally rare in the history of the benchmark index. According to Sudeep Shah, Head of Technical and Derivatives Research at SBI Securities, the Nifty has witnessed such sustained declines only six times since 1992. The index previously logged an eight-week decline in 1993, while its longest recorded losing runs reached 10 weeks in 1993 (a drop of 22.9%) and nine weeks in 2001 (a decline of 27.1%).

However, the severity of the current slide is comparatively contained. Over the full eight-week sequence, the cumulative decline in the Nifty 50 is approximately 8%. In contrast, previous streaks of seven weeks or more witnessed far more acute value erosion:

• In September 2001, the index fell 20.5%.
• During the global financial crisis in July 2008, the seven-week drop erased 22.1%.
• Amid the pandemic onset in April 2020, the seven-week decline wiped out 33.3%.

Historical analysis shows that past extended drawdowns often set the stage for subsequent technical rebounds, with the Nifty posting positive returns one month after the streak ended across all previous instances. Nevertheless, analysts urge caution, noting that a sustained turnaround will require genuine follow-up buying and stabilization in foreign portfolio flows.

Tags: NSE BSE Nifty 50 Sensex Foreign Portfolio Investors SBI Securities