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 video series, we break down the origins of cryptocurrencies and trace how India’s crypto ecosystem has evolved over the past decade. Starting with the Cypherpunk movement and the birth of Bitcoin, we move through the rise of Indian exchanges, regulatory pushback, taxation frameworks, and recent security incidents to build a clear foundation of what crypto actually is, how it works, and what is legal in India today.

Along the way, we explain how Bitcoin functions without banks, how mining really works, what private keys represent, how Indians access crypto via exchanges, and why custody and security matter far more than most people realise. This is Part 1 of a two-part series on crypto in India.

Check out In The Money

Market Overview

Nifty opened with a 55-point gap-up at 25,345 but failed to sustain early gains as selling pressure set in almost immediately. After a brief attempt to stabilise in the 25,300–25,320 zone during the opening hour, the index gradually drifted lower through the morning session, slipping toward the 25,200–25,220 range by late morning as upside momentum faded.

The second half saw a sharper sell-off, particularly after 1 PM, with Nifty sliding nearly 170 points from the 25,200 level to hit intraday lows around 25,025–25,030. The decline was led by heavy selling in Adani group stocks, which fell 5–12% intraday. A mild recovery attempt toward 25,100 emerged in the final hour, but it lacked conviction. Nifty eventually closed at 25,048.65, ending sharply lower and marking a weak session dominated by sustained selling and a clear bearish undertone despite the positive opening.

Looking ahead, markets are likely to remain sensitive to global risk appetite, ongoing Q3 earnings, the upcoming Union Budget, and further developments around India–U.S. trade negotiations.

Broader Market Performance:

The broader market had an extremely weak session today. Of the 3,258 stocks that traded on the NSE, 879 advanced, 2,301 declined, and 78 remained unchanged.

Sectoral Performance:

Nifty IT declined the least at –0.17%, while Nifty Realty was the worst performer, plunging –3.34%.

Out of the 12 sectoral indices shown, none closed in green, while all 12 sectors ended in the red, reflecting broad-based selling across the market.

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

Change in OI for the day

The following is the change in OI for Nifty contracts expiring on 27th January:

The maximum Call Open Interest (OI) is observed at 25,500, followed by 25,300, indicating potential resistance at the 25,200 -25,300 levels.
The maximum Put Open Interest (OI) is observed at 25,000, followed by 24,700 & 24,800, suggesting support at 25,000-24,900.

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

Tijori is an investment research platform that has constructed niche indices for various themes and sub-sectors. They help you understand the market performance of narrow slices of the market. You can also track the Promoter buying and other interesting stuff, like Capex activity by the companies in the Tijori App’s idea dashboard

What’s happening in India

Adani Group stocks crashed up to 14%, with Adani Green, Adani Enterprises, Adani Energy, and Adani Ports leading the decline, after the US Securities and Exchange Commission sought court approval to email summons directly to Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani,according to Reuters citing court filings. Dive deeper

The RBI announced a fresh set of liquidity measures to ease tightening conditions, including long-term repo operations, dollar swaps, and bond purchases. These include a ₹25,000-crore 90-day VRR on January 30, a $10 billion USD/INR buy-sell swap on February 4, and OMO purchases of government securities worth ₹1 trillion in February. Dive deeper

A sharp threefold surge in silver prices has propelled Hindustan Zinc to the top of India’s metals sector by market capitalisation. The rally has lifted its valuation to around ₹3.2 lakh crore, helping it overtake peers, including parent Vedanta. Dive deeper

Cipla reported a sharp 57% year-on-year decline in consolidated net profit to ₹676 crore, while revenue remained flat at ₹7,074 crore. Earnings were weighed down by a drop in gRevlimid sales, which impacted its North America business. Dive deeper

IndusInd Bank reported an 89% year-on-year fall in Q3 net profit to ₹161 crore from ₹1,401 crore a year ago. Net interest income declined 13% YoY to ₹4,562 crore, though it rose sequentially, while asset quality improved marginally with gross NPAs at 3.56% and net NPAs at 1.04%. Dive deeper

JSW Steel reported a sharp 198% year-on-year jump in consolidated net profit to ₹2,139 crore for the December quarter. Revenue rose 11% YoY to ₹45,991 crore, reflecting improved operating performance. Dive deeper

What’s happening globally

Gold eased toward $4,900 per ounce on Friday after a sharp rally that pushed prices to a record high of $4,966.93. Despite the pullback, bullion is on track for its strongest weekly gain since March 2020, supported by waning confidence in U.S. assets, geopolitical tensions, and economic uncertainty. Dive deeper

UK retail sales volumes rose 0.4% month-on-month in December 2025, beating expectations and reversing November’s decline. The growth was driven by non-store retailers, with online jewellers seeing stronger demand amid higher holiday spending. Dive deeper

The Bank of Japan kept its key short-term interest rate unchanged at 0.75% at its first policy meeting of 2026, maintaining the highest borrowing costs since September 1995. The decision was approved by an 8–1 vote, with policymakers signalling scope for further rate hikes if growth and inflation track projections. Dive deeper

Euro zone business activity growth held steady this month as softer services expansion offset a milder contraction in manufacturing, a survey showed. The HCOB Flash Eurozone Composite PMI, compiled by S&P Global, stayed at 51.5, marking a 13th straight month above the growth threshold despite missing forecasts. Dive deeper

Management chatter

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

Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, on Gold:

“Gold is not a metal to speculate on,” Dalio said. “It is the second-largest reserve currency.”
“While silver's sharper price moves have captured investor attention, Gold's rally is more significant because of the nature of its buyers. Central banks, sovereign wealth funds, and official institutions, particularly outside the US, have been steadily increasing their gold reserves.”
“It's an effective diversifier. So if you had no views of the markets, that's what you would have.” - Link

Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal on the changing world order and India dealing with US President Trump:

"What is important is for the world to know the old world order has certainly shifted. Now, where will it land up? What new institutions will come through it? But something has to give now. Europe will have to come together as a voice. No more fragmented Europe and together through Brussels."
"I'm in the world of business, but I'm also a student of geopolitics. I personally feel India has done well by keeping quiet, not reacting to the noise. Our leadership has had a lot of calm approach towards the whole issue."- Link

🧑🏻‍💻Have you checked out The Chatter?

Every week, we listen to the big Indian earnings calls—Reliance, HDFC Bank, and even smaller logistics firms—and copy the full transcripts. We then remove the fluff and keep only the sentences that could move a share price: a surprise price hike, a cut-back on factory spending, a warning about weak monsoon sales, or a hint from management on RBI liquidity. We add a quick, one-line explainer and a timestamp so you can trace the quote back to the call. The whole thing lands in your inbox as one sharp page of facts you can read in three minutes—no 40-page decks, no jargon, just the hard stuff that matters for your trades and your macro view.

Go check out The Chatter here.

So, we’re now on Reddit!

We love engaging with the perspectives of readers like you. So we asked ourselves - why not make a proper free-for-all forum where people can engage with us and each other? And what’s a better, nerdier place to do that than Reddit?

So, do join us on the subreddit, chat all things markets and finance, tell us what you like about our content, and where we can improve! Here’s the link — alternatively, you can search r/marketsbyzerodha on Reddit.

See you there!

Calendars

In the coming days, we have the following significant events, quarterly results, and corporate actions:

That’s it from us for today. We’d love to hear your feedback in the comments, and feel free to share this with your friends to spread the word!

Aftermarket Report by Zerodha

Nifty ends sharply lower near 25,050 amid…