Nifty remains resilient, closes above 24,200 despite global headwinds
Navigating mixed earnings & lingering geopolitical tensions with selective buying
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 get into the part guides treat as an afterthought – stock selection. Not a checklist, not a screener dump. A method.
Specifically, the Wagner and Pedicelli approach: find the strongest stock inside the strongest sector, and let the money flows do the heavy lifting.
We walk through two live examples using NSE sectoral indexes and the TJI sub-sector indexes, and share a custom TradingView script that builds a true equal-weighted basket — because market-cap weighting lies to you about what’s actually moving. There’s also a case for Renko charts if candlesticks are hiding more than they’re showing.
One thing worth flagging before you dive in: discretionary doesn’t mean no rules. It never has.
Markets Today
Nifty opened with a 144-point gap down at 24,190, reacting to the sharp rise in crude oil prices amid escalating tensions in the Middle East. At the same time, investors also digested the weekend earnings from heavyweights such as HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, and Axis Bank. After the weak opening, the index remained under pressure through the first few minutes and slipped further to around 24,160.
However, buyers gradually stepped in, helping Nifty recover steadily through the morning. By around 10:30 AM, the index had reclaimed the 24,220 mark and continued to edge higher, trading in the 24,220–24,250 range for most of the late morning. The recovery gained further momentum just after noon, with the Nifty touching an intraday high near 24,260 at around 2 PM.
The second half was comparatively range-bound, with the index oscillating between 24,220 and 24,260 as investors turned cautious after the sharp rebound. While profit booking emerged intermittently, every dip found buying support, preventing any meaningful decline. In the final hour, Nifty gave up a small part of its gains but managed to hold comfortably above the 24,230 level, eventually closing at 24,238.50.
Despite ending marginally below its opening price, the index recovered nearly 100 points from its intraday lows, reflecting resilience in domestic markets despite persistent geopolitical concerns and elevated oil prices.
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 21st July:
The maximum Call Open Interest (OI) is observed at 24,500, followed by 24,300, indicating potential resistance at the 24,300 -24,400 levels.
The maximum Put Open Interest (OI) is observed at 24,200, followed by 24,000, 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
Top Stories in India
HDFC Bank fell over 5% despite reporting a 5% YoY rise in Q1FY27 standalone net profit to ₹19,060 crore, with NII up 6.7% to ₹33,536 crore. The bank reported a net interest margin of 3.26%, while gross and net NPAs stood at 1.17% and 0.41%, respectively. Dive deeper
Axis Bank also declined more than 5% after posting a 23% YoY increase in Q1FY27 standalone net profit to ₹7,114 crore. NII rose 8% to ₹14,646 crore, while asset quality improved, with GNPA falling to 1.28% and net NPA to 0.39%. Dive deeper
Reliance Industries closed 0.4% lower despite reporting a record Q1FY27 consolidated net profit of ₹23,196 crore, up 6.1% YoY. Record EBITDA of ₹54,067 crore (+10.1% YoY) and a 24.5% rise in gross revenue to ₹3.4 lakh crore were driven by strong double-digit growth in Jio Platforms and the oil-to-chemicals business. Dive deeper
ICICI Bank gained over 1% after reporting a 15.9% YoY rise in Q1FY27 net profit to ₹14,805 crore. Strong net interest income, stable loan growth and lower provisions supported earnings, with profit coming in 11% above consensus estimates. Dive deeper
India’s core infrastructure output grew 5% year-on-year in June, the fastest pace in five months, driven by strong growth in cement, electricity, and iron ore production. The data, based on a revised 2022–23 base year, showed cement and electricity output rising 9.8% each, while iron ore production surged 43.9%, offsetting declines in crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, and fertiliser. Dive deeper
The Finance Ministry said there is no proposal under consideration to scrap the long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax on equity investments. The government added that capital gains tax policies are reviewed periodically during the Union Budget process, while LTCG tax collections from equity transactions rose nearly 79% to around ₹2.01 lakh crore during FY24 and FY25 combined. Dive deeper
UltraTech Cement reported a 16.8% year-on-year increase in Q1FY27 consolidated net profit to ₹2,599.3 crore, while revenue rose 15.9% to ₹24,648.2 crore. Domestic sales volumes grew 13.1% to 39.2 million tonnes, with capacity utilisation at 81%, and EBITDA per tonne improved to ₹1,214 from ₹1,198 a year earlier. Dive deeper
L&T secured multiple domestic metals and mining orders worth ₹10,000–15,000 crore for its Metals & Minerals business. The contracts include an iron ore handling plant in Chhattisgarh from India’s largest iron ore producer, supporting its plan to expand production capacity to 100 million tonnes per annum by 2030. Dive deeper
PNB shares rose over 5% after the lender reported a 214% year-on-year jump in Q1FY27 net profit to ₹5,253 crore, aided by steady lending income and improved asset quality. Net interest income rose 2% YoY to ₹10,798 crore. Dive deeper
Top Stories Globally
Brent crude pared earlier gains to trade around $88 per barrel after briefly crossing $91, as renewed diplomatic efforts between the U.S. and Iran eased supply concerns. Iran said it had received proposals from international mediators and signalled that talks with the U.S. could continue if they align with the country's national interests. Dive deeper
U.S. import prices rose 0.3% in June, driven by higher nonfuel goods prices that offset lower petroleum costs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Import prices increased 7.1% year-on-year, the fastest annual rise since August 2022, while nonfuel import prices climbed 4.2%, marking their biggest annual increase since June 2022. Dive deeper
U.S. gasoline prices crossed the $4-a-gallon mark for the first time in months as renewed US-Iran hostilities disrupted energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz. According to the American Automobile Association, the national average retail gasoline price rose to $4.003 per gallon, up more than 30% since late February. Dive deeper
Domino’s Pizza’s quarterly revenue slightly exceeded Wall Street estimates as growth in its supply-chain business offset weaker restaurant demand. U.S. same-store sales rose just 0.1%, below expectations of 0.62%, while the stock gained about 7% in premarket trade despite being down around 23% this year. Dive deeper
Samsung Biologics will acquire Swiss contract drugmaker PolyPeptide Group in an all-cash deal valued at 1.46 billion Swiss francs ($1.81 billion). The offer of 44.31 Swiss francs per share represents a 6.1% premium to PolyPeptide’s last closing price and strengthens Samsung Biologics’ presence in peptide-based therapeutics, including GLP-1 obesity and diabetes drugs. Dive deeper
AMC Entertainment Holdings reported a surprise adjusted profit and record Q2 revenue, beating Wall Street estimates as strong box office performances from blockbuster releases like "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" and "Obsession" boosted ticket sales. The company's shares jumped 16.5% in premarket trading. 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.
Ashok Vaswani, Kotak Mahindra Bank’s outgoing MD & CEO, on succession & significant restructuring and repair work across the bank:
“Internally, we have a very strong bench, but I am sure the NRC will look broader.”
“You are aware of the technology embargo. You are well aware of rebuilding of the entire management team,”
“We have cleaned up the personal loan book, we have cleaned up the credit card book, we have cleaned up the microfinance book,” - Link
Nilesh Maru, CFO of Polycab, believes India’s power infrastructure build-out will remain a major structural demand driver for the cable industry over the next five years:
“A ₹100 spend on transmission and distribution translates to a cable requirement of 15%, which is very high. We believe the next five years will be monumental for generation, transmission and distribution combined. Another lead indicator is the capacity expansion plans of transformer companies, whose order books are now 2.5x their revenue.” - Link
Corporate Actions & Events
Corporate Actions
Published by Zerodha. Not investment advice. Data from NSE, BSE, and MCX.
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!
Very good analysis and really helpful to take action for the next day in the market.