Late surge in first closing auction session lifts Nifty above 24,750
Cooling geopolitical tensions & oil prices provided the tailwind
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.
In our latest episode of In The Money by Zerodha, we go back to where it all begins: the IPO. Starting with a personal story of a Reliance Power allotment in 2008, we break down how the IPO process really works, from the DRHP and book building to ASBA, while explaining why retail investors are often at a structural disadvantage. Along the way, we unpack concepts like the winner’s curse and how IPOs often serve as exit liquidity for existing investors.
Looking at data from over 400 main board IPOs since 2020, we find that while nearly seven out of ten IPOs delivered listing gains, the picture changes dramatically for those buying after listing. Some of the biggest IPO disappointments have erased 70–99% of investor wealth.
The key takeaway: don’t treat IPOs like lottery tickets; evaluate them as businesses, not just opportunities to sell to someone else after the initial hype.
Markets Today
Nifty opened with a sharp 189-point gap-up at 24,573, after US President Donald Trump indicated that the US would pause further attacks on Iran, provided a deal to end the months-long conflict is reached quickly. The easing geopolitical tensions triggered a more than 5% decline in oil prices, boosting sentiment at the open.
After the initial gap-up, the index largely moved sideways, trading in a tight 24,550–24,600 range through the first half as investors digested the overnight developments.
The second half remained equally subdued, with Nifty continuing to consolidate around the 24,580–24,600 zone and showing little directional bias, and eventually ended the trading session for F&O stocks at 3:15 PM at 24,573.35.
Under the new CAS-based closing, Nifty ended the day sharply higher at 24,774.30.
Sectoral Indices Performance
Winners & Losers
Commodities
FII / DII Flows
Here’s the trend of FII-DII activity from the last 5 days:
Thematic Indices
Tijori’s niche indices, where today’s move sorts pockets of the market beyond standard sector baskets. You can also track 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 4th August:
The maximum Call Open Interest (OI) is observed at 24,600, followed by 25,000, indicating potential resistance at the 24,700 -24,800 levels.
The maximum Put Open Interest (OI) is observed at 24,500, followed by 24,600, suggesting support at 24,500-24,400.
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
Top Stories in India
India’s gross GST collections rose 15.4% YoY to over ₹2.11 lakh crore in July, driven by strong tax collections from domestic consumption and imports. GST revenue from domestic transactions increased 10.1% to over ₹1.44 lakh crore, while import-related GST collections surged 29% to ₹66,511 crore. Dive deeper
India’s manufacturing activity slowed to its weakest pace in nearly five years in July, with the HSBC India Manufacturing PMI easing to 53.5 from 54.2 in June, the lowest reading since August 2021. The slowdown reflected softer growth in new orders, input purchases, and employment, although firms continued to build inventories amid Middle East-related supply concerns and resilient export demand. Dive deeper
India’s power consumption rose 10.9% YoY to 170.7 billion units (BU) in July, driven by high humidity across several parts of the country, boosting demand for cooling appliances such as air conditioners. Dive deeper
India’s electric vehicle (EV) sales surged 82% YoY to 31,788 units in July, nearly doubling from 17,509 units a year earlier, as higher fuel prices following the U.S.-Iran conflict accelerated consumer adoption of electric mobility. Dive deeper
InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo) has appointed Willie Walsh as its Chief Executive Officer, effective Monday. Walsh, a veteran pilot and former IATA Director General, succeeds Pieter Elbers, who stepped down earlier this year following operational disruptions at the airline in December. Dive deeper
NALCO reported an 88% YoY jump in Q1FY27 standalone net profit to ₹2,002 crore, while revenue rose 39.3% to ₹5,302 crore. The strong performance was driven by higher global aluminium prices, record production, and improved domestic alumina sales, with the company also achieving record first-quarter bauxite excavation, calcined alumina production, and alumina sales. Dive deeper
IEX shares fell 4% after the Supreme Court declined to hear the company’s challenge to market coupling at the current stage, allowing the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) to proceed with framing the relevant regulations. The court clarified that it had not expressed any view on the merits of the case. Dive deeper
Ather Energy reported a significantly improved Q1FY27 performance, with its net loss narrowing to ₹51 crore from ₹178.2 crore a year ago. Revenue surged 88.8% YoY to ₹1,217 crore, while the EBITDA loss narrowed sharply to ₹33.4 crore from ₹134.3 crore, reflecting improving operating leverage as volumes increased. Dive deeper
ZEEL shares tumbled over 14% after SEBI barred the company from the securities market for two months, and prohibited Subhash Chandra and Punit Goenka for one year over the unauthorised pledge of the company’s Hyderabad land to secure loans for promoter-linked Essel Group entities. Dive deeper
Top Stories Globally
U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. and Israel have agreed to pause further attacks on Iran, provided a deal to end the months-long conflict is reached quickly. However, Iran rejected Trump’s claim that it had requested a halt to U.S. strikes, calling the assertion false and stating that its armed forces remain on high alert. Oil prices went down by 6% on this news. Dive deeper
Japan and the United States carried out a rare coordinated yen-buying intervention to halt the yen’s slide to a 40-year low, marking their first joint currency intervention since 2011. Japanese authorities said they stand ready to take further action if needed, while Donald Trump said the U.S. was supporting Japan to stabilize the yen and help safeguard the global economy. Dive deeper
OPEC+ approved an oil production quota increase of around 188,000 barrels per day from September, completing the phased rollback of a 1.65 million bpd voluntary production cut agreed in 2023. However, the impact on global supply is expected to remain limited, as export disruptions linked to the Iran and Ukraine conflicts have prevented much of this year’s planned output increases from reaching the market. Dive deeper
China's largest car exporter Chery Automobile has agreed to invest $75 million in South Korean automaker KG Mobility through convertible bonds, which could give the Chinese automaker a 10% stake if converted into equity. Dive deeper
Alibaba Group unveiled Qwen3.8-Max, its largest and most capable AI model to date, featuring 2.4 trillion parameters. The model is positioned close to domestic rival Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3 (2.8 trillion parameters), underscoring the intensifying race among Chinese AI firms to build more powerful yet cost-efficient foundation models. Dive deeper
Management Chatter
In this section, we highlight interesting comments from management at major companies and from policymakers in the Indian and Global Economies.
Management of Muthoot Finance on growing competition in the Gold loan segment:
The total NBFC gold loan business today is only 4 lakh crores. Total bank gold loans are 16 lakh crores. There is a significant difference between 16 lakh crores and 4 lakh crores. We do not have a separate strategy for any particular NBFC. With all the competition, whether from banks or NBFCs, we will provide the same good customer service and quick service.
However, as I was saying in the beginning, we may see some yield compression. We had earlier reported yields of around 20%, but we have said that they will be around 18% plus. That is still a decent yield for us because we have a legacy book and a legacy portfolio.
As the quarters go by, we will see that the fittest will survive and the non-focused players will leave. That is what we have seen earlier as well. People who are not fully focused or fully committed to this business and have started a gold loan business merely for the sake of starting one will not, in my opinion, be able to sustain it. - Link
Management of Maruti Suzuki says that there has been a sharp increase in the number of people buying their very first car. This suggests that the entry-level market, which had been slow for years, is finally recovering strongly:
“Our first-time buyer percentage improved significantly from 51% in Q4 to about 54% in this quarter. It has improved significantly within just one quarter, which can also be corroborated by the steep increase in small car volumes.” - Link
Corporate Actions & Events
Corporate Actions
Published by Zerodha. Not investment advice. Data from NSE, BSE, and MCX.
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