Nifty ends the week at highs above 24,350 on easing geopolitical tensions & strong global cues

Explosive moves continue in small and midcap counters

Apr 17, 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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We trace his journey from mutual funds and swing trading to fully automated strategies, and what it really took to get there, the drawdowns, regime shifts, and hard-earned lessons along the way.

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Markets Today

Nifty opened with a small gap down of 31 points at 24,166, tracking lacklustre global cues. The index remained volatile in early trade, briefly slipping below 24,150 before recovering to the 24,250–24,280 zone within the first hour.

Through the late morning, Nifty turned choppy, oscillating in a narrow 24,250–24,280 range with intermittent spikes, including a brief move toward 24,320 around noon. However, it failed to hold gains and drifted back toward the 24,250–260 zone till about 1:30 PM.

Momentum picked up in the second half, with a steady upward bias emerging post 2 PM. Buying intensified into the final hour, pushing the index past 24,300 and extending gains to around 24,370.

Nifty eventually closed near the day’s highs at 24,353.55, up 0.65%, marking a strong recovery from a flat start and a session defined by gradual strength building through the second half. Bank Nifty rose 0.85% to 56,565.7, while midcaps outperformed with a 1.13% gain to 13,838.85. Market breadth was firmly positive at 401 advances to 98 declines, and VIX cooled 4.86% to 17.21, indicating easing volatility.

Sectoral Indices Performance

FMCG led the charge with a 2.65% surge as crude oil collapsed 4.34% to ₹8,472 a barrel, lifting margin-sensitive names. Energy followed with a 1.83% gain, media climbed 1.34%, and consumption added 1.17%. 11 out of 12 sectors closed in green. Auto lagged at just 0.2%, pharma scraped 0.14%, and IT slipped 0.02%.

Winners & Losers

Midcaps outperformed large caps decisively, rising 1.13% versus Nifty’s 0.65%. The breadth ratio of 4:1 advances to declines signals broad participation, not just index-driven momentum.

Momentum Screener

Global Markets

US futures are up nearly 0.3% overnight. Asian markets were weak earlier, while the European indices closed marginally higher.

Commodities

Crude oil tanked 4.34%, extending its multi-day collapse, a direct tailwind for India’s import bill and inflation expectations. Gold slipped 0.07% to ₹1,53,049, while silver bucked the trend with a 0.99% gain to ₹2,51,079.

FII / DII Flows

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 21st April:

The maximum Call Open Interest (OI) is observed at 24,800, followed by 24,500, indicating potential resistance at the 24,500 -24,600 levels.
The maximum Put Open Interest (OI) is observed at 24,000, followed by 24,200 & 23,800, 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

Thematic Indices

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

Management Chatter

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

Mark Matthews, the Head of Research-Asia at Julius Baer, argued that markets are already looking past the conflict:

“If the S&P 500 can hit new highs in the middle of a war, it tells you the market is focused on earnings, not geopolitics.”
“Historically, wars don't tend to cause recessions or sustained market declines.” The infrastructure damage in the region appears limited and recoverable. - Link

President Donald Trump claimed Iran has made key concessions in negotiations with the US:

“Iran wants to make a deal. They are willing to do things today that they weren’t willing to do two months ago.”
“We have a very successful negotiation going on right now. If it happens, it will be announced fairly soon.” - Link

Corporate Actions & Events

Watch out for the results of heavyweights like HDFC Bank and ICICI over the weekend. Weekly options expire on Tuesday. Keep an eye on crude oil price action and FII flow continuity.