The Indian stock market showed resilience in Thursday's trading session, with Nifty maintaining gap-up gains at 24,244.55, up 13.45 points or 0.05%, while Sensex advanced 48.27 points or 0.06% to 77,585.99 as of 12:30 IST. According to Business Standard, the indices entered a narrow consolidation phase as participants turned cautious at higher levels, with Nifty confined to a 42-point range since the opening. This represented a recovery from the previous session's crash where Nifty had fallen 0.42% to 24,186.40 and Sensex dropped 388.80 points to 77,339.36 during the sixth consecutive session of declines. Sudeep Shah, Head of Technical and Derivatives Research at SBI Securities, noted that "frontline private-sector banks are displaying relative strength and providing crucial support to the benchmark indices," with HDFC Bank emerging as the top contributor to Nifty's gains.
The Nifty Realty index emerged as the standout performer, adding 0.54% to 912.85 and jumping 1.91% over the two consecutive trading sessions. According to Business Standard, Prestige Estates Projects surged 1.82%, Brigade Enterprises gained 1.55%, DLF rose 0.83%, Godrej Properties advanced 0.59%, Aditya Birla Real Estate increased 0.44%, Lodha Developers climbed 0.15%, and Oberoi Realty rose 0.03%. The sector's strong performance came amid broader market outperformance, with the BSE 150 MidCap Index rising 0.15% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index rallying 0.52%. Market breadth remained positive with 2,219 shares rising and 1,846 shares falling on the BSE, indicating broad-based buying interest across the market.
Bank Nifty rose 0.34% in morning trade on Friday, reaching 57,689.30 at 10:21 am, compared with the previous close of 57,495.90, after touching an intraday high of 57,772.45 and low of 57,481.55. According to NDTV Profit, the index's recovery was driven by gains in Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 1.46%), HDFC Bank (up 0.81%), Federal Bank (up 0.69%), IDFC First Bank (up 0.44%), and ICICI Bank (up 0.35%). However, some banking stocks declined, with Punjab National Bank falling 1.33% (biggest decline), IndusInd Bank dropping 0.74%, Bank of Baroda declining 0.29%, and Axis Bank marginally lower at 0.03%. The move came amid significant derivatives positioning, with the 58,000 Call having the highest open interest at about 23.8 lakh contracts, while the 57,000 Put held the largest Put open interest at about 17.3 lakh contracts. Bank Nifty futures stood at 58,214.10, down 0.95%, with futures open interest increasing 27.50% since the last expiry.
Walchandnagar Industries climbed 1.85% after the company received an order worth ₹30.53 crore from the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) for the supply of HS200 Motorcase for the Gaganyaan mission. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals shed 0.56% despite its subsidiary launching Calcium Gluconate Injection USP in the US market. On the broader market, the BSE 150 MidCap Index gained 0.09% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index rallied 0.49%. Market breadth remained positive with Nifty's Advances-Declines Ratio at 40:9, indicating broad-based buying interest, as on the BSE, 2,132 shares rose and 1,563 shares fell, with 289 shares unchanged.
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, rose 3.17% to 11.16, indicating increased market uncertainty. The Nifty 25 August 2026 futures were trading at 24,293.50, at a premium of 48.95 points as compared with the spot at 24,244.55. According to Business Standard, the Nifty option chain for the 25 August 2026 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 216 lakh contracts at the 24,300 strike price, while a maximum put OI of 248.4 lakh contracts was seen at the 24,200 strike price. WTI crude oil held near $84.50 per barrel while MCX Crude Oil eased to around ₹8,100 after facing resistance near ₹8,350, showing some moderation from previous highs. COMEX Gold was trading at $4,553.70, up 0.22%, while MCX Gold extended its breakout above the ₹1,58,000 mark to ₹1,58,499, up 0.32%. COMEX Silver surged 2.02% to $67.155, hitting an eight-week high, supported by a 62.5% year-on-year rise in Chinese imports of silver-bearing ores in June, driven by demand from the country's solar-panel and power-grid sectors. The rupee was trading around ₹95.60 to the dollar, marginally off recent highs but still under broad pressure, reflecting ongoing currency weakness amid geopolitical uncertainties.
