Nifty stays range-bound as consolidation now continues near 24,400
Markets await major trigger for further direction
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 break down how the stock market actually works as an auction, from the moment you place a buy or sell order to how that single action moves the price of a stock.
Most traders think placing an order is simple. Hit buy, hit sell, done. But underneath every trade is a two-sided continuous auction running every second the market is open. There’s a limit order book stacking up bids and offers, a bid-ask spread telling you exactly how far apart buyers and sellers are, market orders that sweep through resting liquidity in a flash, and an aggressor who decides to stop waiting and cross the gap.
And when one side disappears completely? That’s when you get a circuit. All of this, the orders, the book, the price movement, the circuits, it’s what people mean when they say order flow, and now you’ll actually know what that means.
Markets Today
Nifty opened absolutely flat at 24,432, tracking lacklustre global cues, while oil prices continued to trade comfortably above $85 per barrel. The index came under pressure soon after the open, slipping towards 24,320- 24,330 in the first 20 minutes and remained in a range between 24,420- 24,450 around 10:30 AM, with a couple of early recovery attempts failing to sustain.
After touching its intraday low near 24,310, Nifty began recovering towards the end of the first half, with the rebound gathering pace around noon and pushing the index sharply above 24,400 to an intraday high near 24,410.
In the second half, however, the recovery lost momentum as Nifty gradually slipped back towards the 24,350- 24,360 zone. The index remained volatile thereafter, briefly recovering towards 24,390 around 2 PM before giving up those gains again. Nifty spent most of the final hour around 24,345–24,370, before a sharp closing move lifted it back towards the day's higher levels. The index eventually settled at 24,395.85, around 35 points below its opening level but nearly 80 points above the day's low.
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 18th August:
The maximum Call Open Interest (OI) is observed at 24,600, followed by 24,500, indicating potential resistance at the 24,600 -24,700 levels.
The maximum Put Open Interest (OI) is observed at 24,000, followed by 24,300, suggesting support at 24,300-24,200.
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
Jio Financial Services and Bank of America announced a joint venture in Jio Credit, with Bank of America investing up to ₹18,268 crore ($1.9 billion) for a maximum 49.9% stake in the NBFC. The U.S. bank will initially acquire a 26.5% equity stake through a preferential allotment, with the holding potentially rising to 49.9% through the exercise of warrants. Dive deeper
India’s merchandise trade deficit widened to $31.9 billion in July, from $27.88 billion a year ago, as both exports and imports recorded strong growth. Exports rose 19.6% YoY to $44 billion, while imports increased 17.5% to $76.22 billion. However, the trade deficit as a share of total merchandise trade improved to 26.5% from 27.3% a year earlier. Dive deeper
L&T secured an order worth up to ₹15,000 crore ($1.57 billion) from U.S.-based Together AI to host an AI data centre in Chennai. The facility, operated through L&T’s Vyoma.AI unit, will deploy 10,000 Nvidia B300 chips, making it India’s largest such deployment, and will support Together AI’s cloud platform for AI inference, fine-tuning, and training. Dive deeper
India’s automobile industry recorded its strongest-ever July sales, with passenger vehicle dispatches surging 34.3% YoY to 4.58 lakh units, according to SIAM. Two-wheeler sales rose 22.6% to 19.23 lakh units, while three-wheeler dispatches jumped 33.4% to 92,560 units, reflecting broad-based growth across vehicle segments. Dive deeper
Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles reported an over 80% YoY decline in Q1FY27 consolidated net profit to ₹775 crore, hit by supply constraints, a fire at a key component supplier, the Middle East conflict and the planned Jaguar wind-down. Revenue rose over 9% YoY to ₹95,799 crore, while the EBITDA margin contracted 130 bps to 7.4%, reflecting pressure on operating profitability. Dive deeper
Solar Industries India reported a 92.6% YoY surge in Q1FY27 consolidated net profit to ₹653 crore, while revenue jumped 70.3% to ₹3,668 crore. EBITDA rose 90.1% to ₹1,015 crore, with the EBITDA margin expanding to 27.7% from 24.8%, reflecting strong growth alongside improved operating profitability. Dive deeper
Top Stories Globally
Crude oil fell below $82 per barrel, snapping five consecutive sessions of gains, as concerns over weakening global demand outweighed continued uncertainty around the Strait of Hormuz. The International Energy Agency (IEA) lowered its global oil demand outlook, warning that the prolonged Middle East conflict and elevated crude prices are increasingly weighing on consumption. Dive deeper
Global electric vehicle sales rose 9% YoY to 1.85 million units in July, marking a fifth consecutive month of demand growth, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. Growth was driven primarily by strong European demand, which helped offset weaker sales in China and North America, while year-to-date global EV sales reached 11.5 million units. Dive deeper
Maersk raised its full-year earnings guidance for the second time this year after profits beat expectations, as global container demand remained resilient despite the Middle East conflict. Higher freight rates, driven by port congestion and strong Chinese export growth, more than offset additional costs from regional disruptions, easing concerns about a slowdown in global shipping demand. Dive deeper
SMIC, China’s largest contract chipmaker, reported Q2 profit of $479 million, more than triple the year-ago level and ahead of estimates, while revenue rose 36% to over $3 billion. The company expects AI to continue driving robust chip demand in the second half and plans to accelerate new production lines and adjust existing capacity to ease industry-wide supply constraints. 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.
IRCTC is undertaking a significant refresh of its e-ticketing infrastructure, which could increase processing capacity from around 37,000 to more than 1 lakh tickets per minute:
“We are trying to upgrade its hardware, including storage, servers, and networking, as well as the software. As a result, we will increase capacity. As you have seen, we have reached around 37,000 tickets per minute. This may increase to more than 1 lakh tickets per minute. This is being done along with PRS modernization - Link
B.S. Ganesh, MD of Page Industries, on the company’s decision to protect consumer value and competitiveness by absorbing part of the inflation:
“This quarter also reflected inflationary pressure across key inputs, particularly cotton and synthetic materials, amid a volatile external environment. As regards pricing, we remain calibrated and chose to absorb part of the input cost increase, balancing margin protection with consumer value and competitiveness. This approach helped us stay competitive, while the subsequent moderation in some input costs supported our position.” - 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!