Mumbai, Oct. 19 -- The domestic equity benchmarks ended sharply lower on Monday, snapping a four-session winning streak as elevated crude oil prices and selling pressure in heavyweight banking stocks weighed on investor sentiment. The Nifty settled below the 22,900 mark amid concerns over the quarterly earnings performance of a private sector lender that reported its Q2 FY27 results over the weekend.

Market participants will track movements in crude oil prices, foreign institutional investor (FII) flows, central bank commentary on inflation and economic growth, and further corporate earnings announcements for cues on the market's direction.

Barring PSU banks, all sectoral indices on the NSE closed in negative territory, led by losses in...