Daily Market News Update - 02nd-03rd November 2026

Midnight News Update: 02-03 Nov 2026

On Monday, the Nifty rallied by 388 points and the Sensex rallied 1,233 points. Nearly 60% of the rally was accounted for by Reliance Industries alone. RIL rallied 11.6%, one of its best single-day performances in recent memory. Reliance Industries stock settled above ₹1,300 while market cap crossed ₹17,50,000 crore. The rally was triggered by Reliance Industries reporting stellar results for Q2FY27, led by a strong performance in its oil to chemicals (O2C) business and the digital business. Several brokers have already upgraded RIL with targets up to ₹1,800 per share.

Iran has agreed to reopen the Straits of Hormuz within the next 48 hours subject to 4 conditions. Currently, the US and Iran are communicating through Qatar. The conditions include an end to the war on all fronts, release of substantial Iranian assets frozen overseas, lifting of sanctions targeting Iranian oil sector, and lifting the naval blockade of Iranian ports. Meanwhile, Trump has threatened fresh attacks on Iran but the area has been quiet for some time. The future course of action will depend on the outcome of the mid-term elections to be held in the US on 03-November.

Darius Khambatta has declined seeking reappointment as a trustee of Tata Trusts. He is on the board of the SRTT and the SDTT. Khambatta said that he had accepted both positions at the behest of Ratan Tata. However, the Tata Sons decision to reappoint Chandra for 5 years, contrary to the wishes of the 66% shareholder, had disillusioned him. The reappointment of any trustee needs the assent of other trustees. He also underlined that he was essentially opposed to the idea of listing Tata Sons, as it will force Tata Sons to adopt a short-term approach to decision making.

Food inflation is emerging as a major concern for India amid low Kharif yields and sluggish Rabi sowing this year. Agricultural products like sugar, mustard oil, rice, and onions spiked sharply compared to last year. According to experts, this can be attributed to lower-than-expected Kharif output this year. In September, food inflation had touched a level of 7.74%. In addition, low reservoir levels due to deficient rainfall are likely to impact Rabi output, which holds the key to the rice production in the Northern belt. Rice is likely to trigger higher food inflation.

Indian oil refining companies are undergoing a freight shock, which is adding up to $20/bbl to their oil bill. The freight and insurance bill has gone up from around $10/bbl last year to $20/bbl this year due to the uncertainty at the Straits of Hormuz and disruptions in West Asia. This has had a big impact on the gross refining margins of most Indian refiners. In fact, IOC is even exploring the possibility of owning some of its ships to move crude, for better control over costs. However, this could change if there is tangible progress towards peace in the Middle East.

October 2026 GST collections stood at ₹2,31,290 crore. On a yoy basis, the GST collections were up 22.9%, the best growth seen in the last 4 years. October also marked the fourth consecutive month when the GST collections stayed above the ₹2 trillion mark. While domestic GST collections were robust at ₹1.59 trillion, the real alpha came from import collections at ₹0.72 trillion. The overall domestic Gross GST collections of ₹1.59 trillion comprised of; ₹42,935 crore of central GST (CGST), ₹51,340 crore of State GST (SGST), and ₹64,769 crore of integrated GST (IGST).

Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a money laundering case against Subhash Chandra of the Essel Group. Chandra had allegedly inflated his net worth to avail loans from LIC Housing Finance, and had subsequently defaulted on these loans. It had caused a loss of ₹1,322 crore to LIC Housing Finance. LIC Housing was one of the companies that had approached the NCLAT opposing a recent ruling by the NCLT allowing creditors to recover just ₹6.50 crore from Chandra against outstanding loans of ₹22,000 crore. His net worth had been certified at ₹59,000 crore.

Goldman Sachs saw its AI basket fall by -4.22% in a single day. That is just part of a much bigger story; that hedge funds are aggressively selling AI stocks. In the last few weeks, global hedge funds have entirely wiped out their net buying in AI stocks since Jan-25. The real story is a lot more fundamental. The “Magnificent Seven” are investing $700 billion this year in AI. The problem is not just about ROI on AI investments. Higher bond yields will make debt expensive and higher cost of capital is expected to shave off nearly $1.60 trillion from market cap of “Magnificent Seven”.