The Nifty 50 index is set for its worst month in nearly five years as relentless selling from foreign institutions and disappointing results from some index constituents has dragged the index lower from record high levels.

The Nifty had made a record high of 26,277 on September 27 and has corrected over 2,000 points from those levels.

Foreign institutions have sold in every single trading session in the cash market with the total selling for the month crossing ₹1 lakh crore, even higher than the month of March 2020, which was the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Nifty is down 6% in the month of October, which will mark the worst month that the index has had in the last four-and-a-half years. The last instance of such a fall on the index was in March 2020, when the index declined by 23%. This is also the first time since the month of May that the Nifty will report negative returns for a month.

Only four names on the Nifty are currently trading with gains on a month-to-date basis with State Bank of India and ICICI Bank among the top gainers, considering the rally seen by these names in the last few trading sessions.

ICICI Bank’s sentiment was boosted after its quarterly results last week, after which, brokerages called it a “class apart” and 45 out of the 50 analysts having coverage on the stock having a “buy” recommendation. Sentiments around SBI have also received a boost after strong results from PSU Banks like Canara Bank, PNB and Indian Bank.

Stocks	Returns In October
SBI	4.1%
ICICI Bank	2.6%
Wipro	1.71%
Tech Mahindra	1.5%

As many as 19 stocks on the Nifty 50 have seen double-digit losses in the month of October as the index corrected from record high levels. Most of them include earnings disappointments like IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Auto, Tata Consumer Products, Nestle and BPCL among other stocks.

Stocks	Returns In October
IndusInd Bank	-27%
Bajaj Auto	-19.4%
Maruti Suzuki	-15.8%
Tata Consumer Products	-15.5%
Nestle India	-15.5%
BPCL	-15%

Earlier this month, top CLSA chartist Laurence Balanco told CNBC-TV18 that there is a high probability that the Nifty will test its 200-Day Moving Average levels on the downside, which comes to levels of 23,300, that is another 1,000 points from current levels.

Sustained foreign outflows could act as a drag on the near-term performance, according to a note from Citi. Even as valuations are off peaks after this recent correction, but they remain one standard deviation above the long-term averages, according to the brokerage.