IT weakness and oil spike drag Nifty below 24,400

Broader markets continue to inch higher

Apr 22, 2026

Welcome to Aftermarket Report, a newsletter where we do a quick daily wrap-up of what happened in the markets, both in India and globally.

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Markets Today

Nifty opened with a gap down of 106 points at 24,471, tracking weakness in IT stocks following disappointing results, along with a spike in crude oil prices. The index came under immediate selling pressure, slipping steadily toward the 24,350–24,380 zone within the first hour.

After the early decline, Nifty saw a mild recovery in the late morning, moving back toward the 24,400–24,450 range. However, the bounce lacked conviction, and the index remained choppy with no clear direction till noon.

In the second half, Nifty continued to oscillate in a narrow 24,400–24,450 band, with repeated attempts to move higher getting sold into. A brief spike toward 24,450 around 2 PM was quickly reversed, keeping the index under pressure.

Selling picked up again in the final hour, dragging the index back toward the 24,360–24,380 zone. Nifty eventually closed at 24,378.10, marking a weak session defined by early selling, lacklustre recoveries, and renewed pressure into the close.

Nifty fell 198 points (-0.81%), while Sensex declined 0.95% and Bank Nifty slipped 0.43%. Despite the weakness, market breadth favoured advances (315 vs 185), but VIX rose 4.4% to 18.3, indicating underlying caution.

Sectoral Indices Performance

Energy ripped 1.42%, FMCG added 0.75%, Media and Realty both climbed above half a percent. IT crashed 3.89%, dragging the headline indices down. Auto and Banking both bled, falling 0.66% and 0.43% respectively.

Winners & Losers

Midcap bucked the trend, rising 0.15% while Nifty sank. Eight of twelve sectors closed green, and breadth stayed positive despite heavyweights bleeding. Small divergence between large and mid is widening.

Momentum Screener

Global Markets

Commodities

Bond Yields & Currency

India 10Y yield at 6.915%, US 10Y at 4.3%. Rupee weakened 0.36% to 93.77, tracking dollar strength and FII outflows.

FII / DII Flows

Here’s the trend of FII-DII activity from the last 5 days:

Thematic Indices

Tijori’s niche indices, where pockets of the market beyond standard sector baskets are sorted by today's move. You can also track the Promoter buying and other interesting stuff, like Capex activity by the companies in the Tijori App’s idea dashboard

Change in OI for the day

The following is the change in OI for Nifty contracts expiring on 28th April:

The maximum Call Open Interest (OI) is observed at 24,500, followed by 24,400, indicating potential resistance at the 24,500 -24,600 levels.
The maximum Put Open Interest (OI) is observed at 24,000, followed by 24,400 & 24,500, suggesting support at 24,100-24,000.

Note: OI is subject to multiple interpretations; however, generally, an increase in Call OI indicates resistance in a falling market, while an increase in Put OI indicates support in a rising market.

Source: Sensibull

Management Chatter

In this section, we highlight interesting comments from the management of major companies and policymakers in the Indian and Global Economies.

C Vijayakumar, CEO & MD of HCL Tech, on continued softness in discretionary spending and client-specific delays:

Specifically, in the March quarter, we saw a slowdown in procurement decisions in the software business, which contributed to lower performance than expected. In services, there was a slowdown in discretionary spend, especially towards the end of the quarter.
I would not broad-brush it across sectors. These were client-specific situations—two in telecom and two in the SAP programme. North America remains robust; Europe is a little soft. There is no broader macro impact to call out. - Link