DayStarter

Market snapshot

Equities, sectors, F&O movers, commodities, currency, bonds and institutional flows at the 3 August 2026 close.

Equities: Monday close

The Nifty opened 189 points higher at 24,573 after US President Donald Trump said the US would pause further attacks on Iran if an agreement to end the conflict was reached quickly.

The easing in geopolitical tensions pushed oil prices down by more than 5%. The Nifty then traded in a narrow range of around 24,550 to 24,600 during the first half of the session. It remained around 24,580 to 24,600 in the second half.

Trading in F&O stocks ended at 3:15 pm, when the Nifty was at 24,573.35. Under the new closing auction session, the official closing level was later set at 24,774.30.

Sector performance

IT was the strongest sector, rising 3.28%. Bank and FMCG both gained 1.72%.

Most sectors ended higher. Media was the only sector to fall sharply, declining 3.09%.

F&O winners and losers

LTM was the strongest F&O stock, rising 7.52%. Jubilant FoodWorks gained 7.24%, while APL Apollo Tubes and Divi’s Laboratories rose more than 6%.

Muthoot Finance was the biggest loser, falling 7.33%. CG Power declined 4.32%, while GAIL fell 3.94%.

Commodities

Crude oil futures fell 6.27% to ₹7,604 after tensions between the US and Iran eased.

Gold and silver rose slightly. Zinc gained 1.17%, while copper and aluminium also moved up.

Currency and bond yields

The rupee strengthened slightly against the US dollar. USDINR closed at 95.53.

The US 10-year bond yield rose 1.72% to 4.74. India’s 10-year bond yield moved up slightly to 6.84.

Institutional flows

Over the five trading sessions ending 31 July, foreign institutional investors bought Indian equities worth a net ₹5,951 crore. Domestic institutional investors were net buyers of ₹5,387 crore.

Foreign portfolio investors became net buyers in India’s secondary cash market in July for the first time in five months. They invested ₹6,731.97 crore during the month.

Domestic institutional investors bought shares worth ₹35,099 crore during the same period.

Another measure showed that foreign portfolio investors bought Indian stocks worth ₹20,200 crore in July after four consecutive months of selling.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report; NSE; Mint, 4 August 2026.

Macro view

Monetary policy: RBI decision on 5 August

The Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee is meeting this week. It must decide whether to keep the repo rate unchanged at 5.25% or raise it.

The decision will be announced on Wednesday, 5 August.

All 10 economists surveyed expect the RBI to keep the rate unchanged and maintain a neutral policy stance. Several economists described the meeting as a policy “non-event”.

However, the RBI’s communication may remain cautious and slightly hawkish. A hawkish tone means the central bank may signal that it is prepared to raise rates if inflation stays high.

Source: Mint, Plain Facts, 4 August 2026.

Inflation and interest-rate expectations

Inflation has moved above the RBI’s 4% target only once in 2026, in June.

However, the one-year overnight indexed swap rate was around 5.95% on 30 July. This suggests financial markets expect the repo rate to rise by around 70 basis points. That would imply at least two rate increases of 25 basis points each during FY27.

In June 2026:

• Items representing 32% of the CPI basket had inflation above 4%.
• Items representing 24% of the CPI basket had inflation above 6%.

During the high-inflation period from January to December 2022:

• Items representing 79.5% of the CPI basket had inflation above 4%.
• Items representing 52.8% had inflation above 6%.

This means price increases are currently less widespread than they were in 2022.

A simple Taylor Rule model suggested that the RBI was slightly behind the curve between April and June and should have raised rates.

However, when the model uses a neutral interest rate of 1.5% instead of 1.65%, it recommends a policy rate of 5.20%. This is close to the current repo rate of 5.25%.

The US Federal Reserve, Bank of Japan and Bank of England all kept interest rates unchanged last week.

Source: Mint, Plain Facts, “Will a pause put RBI behind the curve?”, 4 August 2026.

Manufacturing activity

The HSBC India Manufacturing PMI fell to 53.5 in July from 54.2 in June. It was also below the preliminary reading of 53.9.

This was the lowest reading since August 2021 and below the long-term average of 54.2.

A PMI above 50 still means manufacturing activity is expanding. A reading below 50 would indicate contraction.

New export orders grew faster. Manufacturers reported higher demand from Canada, Egypt, Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal, South Africa, Thailand and the UAE.

Input-cost inflation fell to a five-month low.

The PMI is prepared by S&P Global using a survey of around 400 manufacturers.

Source: Mint, 4 August 2026.

Government finances

The conflict in West Asia raised global prices and affected government finances during April to June.

• Fertiliser subsidies rose 57.6% year-on-year.
• Fuel excise-duty collections fell 22.4% after duties were reduced.
• Customs-duty revenue rose 36.1% because of higher gold tariffs.

Source: Mint Data Bites; CMIE.

GST collections

India’s gross GST collections rose 15.4% year-on-year to more than ₹2.11 lakh crore in July.

GST from domestic transactions increased 10.1% to more than ₹1.44 lakh crore.

GST collected on imports rose 29% to ₹66,511 crore.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report.

Windfall taxes on fuel exports

The government increased the windfall tax on fuel exports from Monday.

The total levy on diesel includes a special additional excise duty of ₹24 per litre and a road and infrastructure cess of ₹1.5 per litre.

Source: Mint, 4 August 2026.

Power and energy demand

India’s power consumption rose 10.9% year-on-year to 170.7 billion units in July. High humidity across several parts of the country increased electricity demand.

ONGC will reserve half of its planned 1.75 million metric tonne oil-storage facility in Mangaluru for India’s strategic needs.

India currently has enough storage capacity for crude oil and petroleum products to cover 74 days of net crude oil imports.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report; Mint, 4 August 2026.

Monsoon and kharif sowing

The India Meteorological Department issued a low to moderate flash-flood risk warning for parts of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya for the next 24 hours.

Kharif sowing covered 89.4 million hectares as of 31 July. This was 2.65 million hectares lower than the 92 million hectares covered a year earlier.

Normal kharif acreage, based on the average from 2020-21 to 2024-25, is 110.46 million hectares.

Source: Mint; Agriculture Ministry.

Policy: possible return of MDR on UPI

The finance ministry has proposed changes to the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007. These changes could allow merchant discount rate, or MDR, to return on UPI transactions.

MDR is the fee that merchants pay to banks or payment companies for processing digital payments.

The government removed MDR on UPI and RuPay debit-card transactions in January 2020.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to introduce the Taxation and Other Laws Amendment Bill, 2026, in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

The Bill also proposes to:

• Replace the Income-tax Amendment Ordinance, 2026, which gave tax relief to foreign portfolio investors.
• Extend the contract-manufacturing tax benefit from assessment year FY31 to FY41.

Source: Mint, 4 August 2026.

Vehicle-to-vehicle communication

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has proposed making vehicle-to-vehicle communication systems compulsory in new vehicles in phases from October 2027.

Vehicles in the L, M and N categories manufactured from 1 October 2027 will have to meet the AIS-230 standard wherever they are fitted with V2V systems.

From 1 October 2028, all newly manufactured vehicles in these categories will need compliant systems.

The standard uses cellular vehicle-to-everything, or C-V2X, technology in the 5.875 to 5.925 GHz frequency band. The Department of Telecommunications exempted this band from licensing rules on 10 June.

The government has invited public comments for 30 days.

Source: Mint, 4 August 2026.

Parliament and corporate-law changes

A joint parliamentary committee submitted its report on the Corporate Laws Amendment Bill, 2026.

The committee supported a broad change to India’s corporate-law framework. It also proposed:

• Further decriminalisation of procedural violations.
• Lower compliance requirements for small businesses.
• Easier corporate social responsibility rules.

The Rajya Sabha passed the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Amendment Bill, 2026. The Bill would allow courts to order payment of at least 50% of an amount awarded to an MSME supplier if an application to cancel the award remains pending for more than six months.

The Lok Sabha also passed a Bill to replace an ordinance increasing the number of Supreme Court judges from 34 to 38. The Bill was passed without debate.

Source: Mint, 4 August 2026.

India and Uzbekistan trade

India and Uzbekistan aim to more than double bilateral trade to around $3 billion over the next three years. The two countries may also consider a free trade agreement.

Bilateral trade grew 30% last year and crossed $1.3 billion for the first time.

Uzbekistan’s Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade, Laziz Kudratov, said trade had crossed around $1.5 billion.

Source: Mint, 4 August 2026.

Tax benefit for foreign machinery providers

India has proposed extending tax exemptions until 31 March 2041 for foreign companies that provide machinery to contract manufacturers in India.

Source: Reuters via Mint, 4 August 2026.

Drug regulation

The government invited applications for the post of Drugs Controller General of India on 1 August. The age limit is 58 years, and the application deadline is 30 September.

Recruitment rules were changed in April 2026 to allow applicants from disciplines other than pharmacy.

The All India Drugs Control Officers’ Confederation, which represents more than 3,000 regulatory officers, opposed the change in a representation to the health ministry in April.

Source: Mint, 4 August 2026.

IBC ruling and homebuyers

The Supreme Court ruled on 27 July that the moratorium under Section 14 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code applies only to the corporate debtor.

It does not automatically apply to promoters, directors, subsidiaries, personal guarantors or other non-corporate parties unless the law specifically provides such protection.

Legal action against promoters and directors may therefore continue if it is based on their independent legal liability, even while proceedings against the company remain suspended.

Homebuyers accounted for 43.9% of the 5,785 complaints received by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India. They were the largest stakeholder group under the IBC.

As of September 2025, 221 ongoing real estate insolvency cases involved around 109,000 homebuyers.

An IBBI committee has recommended handling real estate insolvency on a project-by-project basis.

Source: Mint primer, “Why the IBC ruling is a win for homebuyers”, 4 August 2026.

Corporate action and earnings

ITC

ITC’s cigarette-segment EBIT fell 35% year-on-year to ₹3,341 crore in Q1FY27. The decline reflected the first full-quarter impact of the tax increase that took effect on 1 February.

Standalone net operating revenue fell 14.4% to ₹16,907 crore. The EBITDA margin declined by 500 basis points to 26.7%. Cigarette net revenue fell 25% even after cumulative price increases of more than 20%.

Performance across other businesses was mixed:

• FMCG revenue rose 12%, while EBIT rose 20%.
• Paperboards, paper and packaging revenue increased 9%, while EBIT rose 38%.
• Agricultural revenue fell 17%.

The cigarette business contributed 76% of ITC’s total segment EBIT, down from nearly 84% in FY26.

ITC shares rose around 2% on Monday but remained 29% lower for 2026.

Nomura estimated that ITC’s cigarette volumes fell 5% year-on-year in Q1FY27. Godfrey Phillips’ volumes fell 2%, while VST’s declined 14.4%. Jefferies upgraded ITC shares to Buy.

Source: Mint, 4 August 2026.

Muthoot Finance

Muthoot Finance shares fell as much as 7% on Monday after the company’s net interest margin declined by 297 basis points from the previous quarter to 10.41%. The weaker margin led analysts to reduce their earnings estimates.

Gold-loan assets under management rose 44% year-on-year. Gold-loan disbursements to new customers increased 41%. However, AUM growth remained below the Q3FY26 peak of 50.2%.

Muthoot maintained its guidance of around 15% AUM growth in FY27.

The group added 86 branches during Q1, taking its network to 7,654 branches. It plans to add between 500 and 600 branches during the year.

The stock is around 30% below its 52-week high of ₹4,149, recorded on 29 January. Muthoot Finance closed at ₹2,890.90, down 7.33%.

Source: Mint; Zerodha AfterMarket Report.

DLF

DLF recorded new sales bookings of ₹657 crore during the April to June quarter. This was 94.3% lower than the ₹11,425 crore reported a year earlier. The decline was caused by the absence of new project launches.

Revenue from operations fell 52.8% to ₹1,280.34 crore from ₹2,716.70 crore. Net profit rose 3.9% to ₹794 crore.

The company said the weak bookings reflected “the timing impact of deferred launches”.

DLF’s net cash position increased to ₹15,200 crore. The company kept its FY27 sales target unchanged at ₹20,000 crore.

Source: Mint, 4 August 2026.

Ather Energy

Ather Energy’s net loss narrowed to ₹51 crore from ₹178.2 crore a year earlier. Revenue increased 88.8% year-on-year to ₹1,217 crore. The EBITDA loss narrowed to ₹33.4 crore from ₹134.3 crore.

Ather reported an EBITDA margin of 0.8% in the June quarter, compared with −15.7% a year earlier. This was an improvement of more than 16 percentage points.

The company became India’s first new-age electric scooter maker focused only on electric vehicles to report an operating profit before depreciation, finance and amortisation costs.

The stock rose 1.6% after the results. Sales increased 81% to 83,173 units during the quarter.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report; Mint; Ather Energy investor presentation.

NALCO

NALCO’s standalone Q1FY27 net profit rose 88% year-on-year to ₹2,002 crore. Revenue increased 39.3% to ₹5,302 crore.

The improvement came from higher global aluminium prices, record production and stronger domestic alumina sales.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report.

Other earnings

Nexus Select Trust reported an 11% year-on-year increase in net operating income to ₹510 crore for the April to June quarter. It announced a distribution of ₹370 crore, or ₹2.44 per unit. This was 10% higher than a year earlier.

JioStar’s June-quarter net profit rose 14.5% year-on-year to ₹665 crore.

Persistent Systems reported consolidated net profit of ₹483 crore for the April to June quarter. This was 13.67% higher than ₹424.93 crore a year earlier.

Source: Mint, 4 August 2026.

Wipro and Meta

Meta Platforms has reduced at least one-fourth of the IT work it outsources to Wipro after an AI-led restructuring closed Meta’s digital marketing division.

Wipro is now expected to earn around $75 million a year from Meta, down from around $100 million in FY26.

Around 200 Wipro employees working on the account from Gurugram have been placed on the bench.

Wipro ended last year with revenue of $10.5 billion, down 0.3% year-on-year.

A Mint report from 3 March said Wipro had also lost up to $100 million in annual revenue from Estée Lauder.

Source: Mint, 4 August 2026.

Visa layoffs

Visa said on 28 July that it would reduce its global workforce by around 7%, or approximately 2,600 jobs.

Employees in India received notification emails between 4 am and 5 am on 29 July.

Visa’s global workforce grew around 8% in fiscal 2025 to approximately 34,100 employees. The company said in 2024 that it employed more than 3,500 people in India.

On one India-based team of 28 people, 10 employees were laid off.

Source: Mint, 4 August 2026.

Food delivery

Swiggy’s food-delivery gross order value rose 17.4% to ₹9,490 crore in the June quarter.

Zomato’s net order value increased by more than 20% to ₹10,769 crore. This was its fourth consecutive quarter of faster growth.

Swiggy’s food-delivery business served an average of 19.2 million monthly transacting users. Zomato served 27 million monthly transacting users.

Swiggy is focusing on affordable meals through Toing, its separate meals app, which has expanded to around 50 cities. Eternal is investing in Bistro by Blinkit.

Source: Mint, 4 August 2026.

Bharti Airtel investment plans

Bharti Airtel expects to continue investing between $3 billion and $4 billion annually, or approximately ₹28,500 crore to ₹38,000 crore. The company has already completed most of its 5G rollout.

Airtel spent around ₹1.45 trillion on capital expenditure, including its 5G rollout, between FY23 and FY26. Annual consolidated capital expenditure was between $5 billion and $5.9 billion from FY24 to FY26.

Source: Mint, 4 August 2026.

LIC offer for sale

The government will sell up to a 6.5% stake in Life Insurance Corporation of India through a two-day offer for sale starting Tuesday.

The offer will open for non-retail investors on Tuesday and retail investors on Wednesday.

The floor price is ₹382 per share. If fully subscribed, the sale of more than 822.2 million shares will raise around ₹31,000 crore.

The floor price is 10% below LIC’s Monday closing price of ₹424.35 on the BSE. The government currently owns 96.5% of LIC.

Source: Mint, 4 August 2026.

Block deals in Paytm and Meesho

Elevation Capital plans to sell shares worth up to ₹2,002 crore, or around $210 million, in Paytm parent One 97 Communications. The floor price is ₹1,339.65 per share. This is 4.99% below Monday’s closing price of ₹1,410.

Elevation Capital and Peak XV Partners will also sell Meesho shares worth a combined ₹1,912 crore, or around $201 million.

Morgan Stanley India is the placement agent for both deals.

Source: Mint, 4 August 2026.

IPO market pipeline

Bankers expect the planned September listings of the National Stock Exchange and Jio Platforms to strengthen the recovery in India’s IPO market.

NSE is expected to raise around ₹30,000 crore to ₹31,500 crore. Jio Platforms is expected to raise around ₹37,000 crore to ₹37,700 crore.

Twelve companies raised ₹28,584 crore through IPOs in July. This was the highest monthly total in 2026. Around 40 companies have raised ₹51,576 crore since January.

Total IPO fundraising in India reached $5.78 billion in 2026 so far, down from $7.32 billion during the same period last year.

Prime Database’s pipeline includes around 245 draft red herring prospectuses. Around 175 are being reviewed by SEBI.

Source: Mint; Prime Database.

Other IPOs

KKR-backed LEAP India is seeking a valuation of around ₹7,000 crore, or $733.91 million, through its $260 million IPO. The IPO will open on 7 August and close on 11 August.

Encube Ethicals filed preliminary papers for an IPO worth ₹3,000 crore. The issue will be entirely an offer for sale.

Encube reported FY26 revenue from operations of ₹1,848.7 crore and net profit of ₹436.7 crore.

Source: Mint, 4 August 2026.

Financial services

Neo Group appointed Vikas Khattar to build and lead its investment-banking business. Neo raised ₹350 crore in July in a funding round led by Peak XV Partners. This followed a ₹550 crore investment from TVS Capital. The company was valued at ₹10,000 crore. Neo managed around ₹1.3 trillion in client assets as of June.

Aadhar Housing Finance plans to add around 50 branches in FY27, taking its network beyond the current 628 branches. Its capital adequacy ratio was above 40%, while gross non-performing assets were 1.31% at the end of the June quarter.

DBS Group Holdings appointed Nitin Chengappa to lead its wealth-management business in India.

Source: Mint, 4 August 2026.

FCNR deposit flows

HSBC, State Bank of India and ICICI Bank received half of all inflows under the RBI’s FCNR deposit incentive scheme.

Outstanding FCNR deposits reached:

Banks received $36.7 billion under the scheme by 31 July.

• Public-sector banks received $8.8 billion.
• Private-sector banks received $10.7 billion.
• Foreign banks received $8.4 billion.

Source: Mint; Reserve Bank of India.

Regulatory developments

United Spirits approached the Bombay High Court against an FSSAI order restricting the sale of one of its rum products. The company filed a petition on 1 August challenging the regulator’s order dated 29 June. The product is manufactured at United Spirits’ Baramati unit. The company said the order would not have a material operational or financial impact.

ZEEL shares fell more than 14% after SEBI barred the company from accessing the securities market for two months. SEBI also barred Subhash Chandra and Punit Goenka for one year over the unauthorised pledge of the company’s land in Hyderabad.

IEX shares fell 4% after the Supreme Court declined to hear the company’s challenge to market coupling at the current stage.

Source: Mint; Zerodha AfterMarket Report.

Exchange activity

Average daily notional turnover in futures and options on the NSE fell 23% from June to ₹214 trillion in July. This was the lowest level since February 2025.

Average daily turnover on the BSE increased 8.4% to ₹232 trillion.

Average daily premium turnover fell:

• 18% to ₹50,200 crore on the NSE.
• 3.1% to ₹25,400 crore on the BSE.

The decline followed an RBI rule requiring bank guarantees to be fully backed by collateral, with at least half of the collateral held in cash.

Source: Mint, 4 August 2026.

Deeptech and data-centre investment

Investment by single-family offices in deeptech startups rose from $15.3 million in 2020 to $467.1 million in 2025. Investment reached $215.6 million in 2026 up to 27 July.

Overall investment in India’s deeptech ecosystem rose from $302 million in 2020 to $1.34 billion in 2025.

Indian conglomerates, global technology companies and independent operators committed more than $250 billion to data-centre construction during the past 12 months.

Data centres may add 26.3 GW of electricity demand to the national grid by FY32. India had 1.12 GW of operational data-centre capacity as of June 2025.

Source: Mint; Tracxn; Ministry of Power; Jones Lang LaSalle.

IndiGo appoints Willie Walsh

InterGlobe Aviation appointed Willie Walsh as chief executive officer from Monday. Walsh replaced Pieter Elbers, who stepped down earlier this year after operational disruptions at the airline in December.

Walsh is an Irish national and completed his term as director general of the International Air Transport Association on 31 July.

IndiGo controls more than 66% of India’s domestic aviation market. The airline has more than 900 aircraft on order. Deliveries of Airbus A350-900 aircraft are expected to begin in early 2028.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report; Mint.

Upcoming events

Earnings calendar: 4 August 2026

Economic events calendar

Global pulse

Global market close

US markets moved up. The S&P 500 gained 0.70%, the Dow Jones rose 0.53%, and the Nasdaq 100 increased 0.44%.

Asian markets were mixed. The Nikkei 225 fell 0.94%, while the Shanghai Composite declined 0.59%. The Hang Seng rose 0.48%.

West Asia and oil

US President Donald Trump said the US and Israel had agreed to pause further attacks on Iran if an agreement to end the conflict was reached quickly.

Iran rejected Trump’s statement that it had asked the US to stop its strikes. Iran called the claim false and said its armed forces remained on high alert.

Oil prices fell around 6% after the announcement.

Trump said on social media that progress was being made towards an agreement. He also cancelled plans for further large-scale strikes. He referred to requests from unnamed Iranian officials and leaders from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report; AP via Mint.

Yen intervention

Japan and the US carried out a rare coordinated intervention to buy yen and stop the currency from falling to a 40-year low. This was their first joint currency intervention since 2011.

Japanese officials said they were prepared to act again if required.

Trump said US support for Japan would help stabilise the yen and protect the global economy. He described the coordinated action as “good for the world economy.”

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report; Mint Quick Edit.

OPEC+ production increase

OPEC+ approved an increase of around 188,000 barrels per day in oil-production quotas from September.

The increase completes the phased reversal of a voluntary production cut of 1.65 million barrels per day agreed in 2023.

The effect on actual global supply may remain limited. Export disruptions connected with the conflicts in Iran and Ukraine have prevented much of this year’s planned production growth from reaching the market.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report.

Amazon crosses $3 trillion

Amazon’s market value crossed $3 trillion for the first time. It became the fifth company to reach the milestone.

Amazon shares rose as much as 5.3% by 9:35 am on Monday.

The stock had fallen nearly 18% between its record high on 6 May and a three-month low reached last month. It then rose more than 15% after Amazon Web Services reported faster revenue growth, adding nearly $400 billion in market value.

Amazon took slightly more than two years to move from a $2 trillion valuation in June 2024 to $3 trillion.

The stock traded at around 25 times expected earnings for the next 12 months. This was around 44% below its average valuation over the past decade.

Source: Bloomberg via Mint.

Big Tech performance

Technology stocks moved in different directions during July.

The Nasdaq fell 3.2% during the month. The Dow Jones rose slightly, while the S&P 500 was almost unchanged.

• Amazon rose 15% on Friday after reporting faster cloud growth.
• Apple fell 7.4% after its forecast for the September quarter missed expectations.
• Meta fell 8% after projecting that free cash flow would turn negative in the second half.
• Microsoft rose 16%, adding around $450 billion in market value.
• The PHLX Semiconductor Index fell around 21% during July.

The S&P 500’s blended earnings-growth rate, combining forecasts with reported results, was around 47%. This was the highest level in more than five years.

Source: Dow Jones via Mint.

US interest rates and bond yields

Federal Reserve chairman Kevin Warsh suggested that an interest-rate increase may not be needed soon. He said higher bond yields had already done some of the work that the Federal Reserve would otherwise have to do through higher policy rates.

The yield on the 30-year US Treasury bond reached its highest level in 19 years.

The bond-market sell-off became stronger on Friday. The 10-year Treasury yield rose to an 18-month high. The US 10-year yield closed at 4.74, up 1.72%.

Source: Dow Jones via Mint; Zerodha AfterMarket Report.

Technology developments in Asia

Alibaba introduced Qwen3.8-Max, its largest AI model so far. The model has 2.4 trillion parameters. It is close in size to Chinese competitor Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3, which has 2.8 trillion parameters.

China’s largest vehicle exporter, Chery Automobile, agreed to invest $75 million in South Korean carmaker KG Mobility through convertible bonds. If converted into shares, the bonds could give Chery a 10% stake.

Technology-heavy Asian markets had a weak July:

• South Korea’s Kospi fell 22% during the month.
• Taiwan’s Taiex fell 13%.
• The Nasdaq declined 3.2%.

The declines followed June-quarter earnings that were weaker than expected.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report; Mint.

Security risks in Jordan

Iran has fired at least 60 missiles and drones at Jordan since the ceasefire between Tehran and Washington ended on 8 July. This was a faster pace than during the earlier period of the conflict, when Jordan faced 125 attacks over three months.

Three American military personnel were killed on 17 July in a missile strike on temporary housing units at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base.

More than 300 former Jordanian members of parliament, tribal leaders and civic activists signed a letter asking the government to end a 2021 agreement that gives the US military unrestricted access to Jordanian bases.

Source: The Wall Street Journal via Mint.

Essar investment and WestJet strike

Essar Group plans to invest £4.3 billion, or $5.8 billion, in expanding its Stanlow refinery in the UK. The expansion will include an energy-transition hub focused on low-carbon hydrogen production.

Essar’s energy division is close to making a final investment decision on projects worth more than £1 billion.

Separately, around 250,000 passengers were affected by flight cancellations over a three-day holiday weekend after WestJet flight attendants in Canada went on strike.

Source: Mint.

Management commentary

“The total NBFC gold loan business today is only 4 lakh crores. Total bank gold loans are 16 lakh crores. There is a significant difference between 16 lakh crores and 4 lakh crores. We do not have a separate strategy for any particular NBFC. With all the competition, whether from banks or NBFCs, we will provide the same good customer service and quick service. However, as I was saying in the beginning, we may see some yield compression. We had earlier reported yields of around 20%, but we have said that they will be around 18% plus. That is still a decent yield for us because we have a legacy book and a legacy portfolio.”

Management of Muthoot Finance
On competition in the gold-loan market

“Our first-time buyer percentage improved significantly from 51% in Q4 to about 54% in this quarter. It has improved significantly within just one quarter, which can also be corroborated by the steep increase in small car volumes.”

Management of Maruti Suzuki
On first-time car buyers

“This is a highly capital-intensive industry. A large part of our cash flow that generates, gets into networks, whether it is cables, data centres, towers, more radio base stations, transmission elements and indeed laying out fibre across the country. We will continue to do so. Over a period of time, you should start seeing tapering off of the capex, but I would say that, given the nature of industry, where technology shifts keep on happening at a breakneck speed, capex will always be multi-billion dollars, $3 to $4 billion a year.”

Sunil Bharti Mittal
Chairman, Bharti Airtel

“The future will not belong to traditional banks or non-banks, but to platforms that connect people with what they need, contextually, seamlessly and smartly.”

K. V. Kamath
Chairman, Jio Financial Services Ltd

The new closing auction session

What changed on 3 August

India introduced auction-based closing prices for stocks in the F&O segment on 3 August.

Earlier, the official closing price of a stock was based on the volume-weighted average price of trades completed during the final 30 minutes of regular trading, from 3:00 pm to 3:30 pm.

Under the new SEBI system, continuous trading in eligible stocks stops at 3:15 pm. The exchange then holds a closing auction from 3:15 pm to 3:35 pm.

During the auction, buy and sell orders are collected and matched at one equilibrium price. This is the price at which the largest number of shares can be traded. That equilibrium price becomes the official closing price.

The new mechanism currently applies to stocks in the F&O segment. It does not apply to stocks outside the F&O segment.

Source: Share.Market; Business Standard.

End-of-day timeline for F&O stocks

• 3:00 pm to 3:15 pm: Continuous trading continues. The exchange calculates a 15-minute VWAP, which becomes the reference price for the auction.
• 3:15 pm to 3:20 pm: Continuous trading stops for stocks covered by the closing auction. A fixed price range of 3% above or below the reference price is applied. Pending stop-loss and iceberg orders are cancelled.
• 3:20 pm to 3:25 pm: Traders can enter limit and market orders. No trades are executed during this period.
• 3:25 pm to 3:30 pm: Market orders are locked. Only limit orders can be placed, changed or cancelled.
• Between 3:28 pm and 3:30 pm: The order-entry window closes at a random time to reduce the risk of order manipulation.
• 3:30 pm to 3:35 pm: The exchange calculates the equilibrium price and executes matching orders.
• 3:35 pm to 3:50 pm: Buffer and transition period.
• 3:50 pm to 4:00 pm: Post-closing trading takes place only at the official auction closing price.
• Equity derivatives remain open until 3:40 pm.

Source: Share.Market, “SEBI’s New Closing Auction Session Explained”, 29 July 2026.

Nifty’s unusual closing move

At 3:15 pm, the Nifty was at 24,573.35.

The official closing level was later set at around 24,774. This was 0.82 percentage points higher than the 3:15 pm level.

The Nifty closed 391 points higher, or 1.6%, at 24,774. The Sensex gained 544 points, or 0.7%, to close at 78,639.

The difference between the closing movements of the Nifty and Sensex surprised market participants.

Large institutional orders during the auction pushed up several heavily weighted Nifty stocks. The Nifty moved from around 24,589 to 24,774 during the final minutes. It briefly touched 24,800 during the closing auction.

Market breadth remained positive:

• 2,358 stocks advanced.
• 1,027 stocks declined.
• 120 stocks were unchanged.

The displayed Nifty level was the official closing level. There was no trading-system failure.

Some difference between the Nifty and Sensex was expected while the market adjusted to the new system.

Source: Business Standard; India Infoline; Reuters.

How unusual was the Nifty-Sensex difference?

The difference between the Nifty and Sensex daily returns was around 0.9 percentage points, or 90 basis points.

Since January 2000, there have been 75 trading sessions when the difference between their daily returns was more than 91.5 basis points.

The previous large difference occurred on 26 March 2020. Monday’s move was the second-largest difference between the two indices since 2010. The largest difference was recorded on 25 April 2000, when the gap reached 257 basis points.

Source: Business Standard.

Possible reasons for the move

Prakarsh Gagdani, founder of Soaring Peaks Capital, said:

“The sharp divergence between the Sensex and Nifty at Monday’s close appears to have been driven by the new closing-auction mechanism rather than any manipulation. Under the revised system, orders could be placed within a 3% price band, and on the first day, some participants may have submitted buy orders above the prevailing market price in heavily weighted Nifty stocks. Even a 1-1.5% higher auction price in large index constituents can materially lift the Nifty’s closing level.”

Prakarsh Gagdani
Founder, Soaring Peaks Capital

The NSE has more cash-market liquidity than the BSE and receives a larger share of institutional and mutual-fund orders.

Concentrated buying in heavily weighted NSE stocks therefore had a stronger effect on the Nifty than similar activity had on the Sensex.

Under the earlier system, both indices usually moved together because their closing levels were based on the average price during the final 30 minutes. The new auction system allowed a temporary difference to appear, particularly on its first day.

A senior brokerage official said the sharp move may have been caused by a large imbalance between buy and sell orders.

Mutual funds may have needed to buy large quantities of Nifty stocks to invest systematic investment plan inflows and reduce tracking error.

Many arbitrage traders and liquidity providers may have stayed away during the first auction while they studied how the new system worked. This could have left significantly more buy orders than shares available for sale.

The official said:

“Mutual funds and other asset managers may have had to execute large purchase orders in Nifty stocks to deploy SIP inflows and minimise tracking error. Since this was the first session under the new closing-auction mechanism, many arbitrageurs and liquidity providers may have remained on the sidelines while assessing how the system functioned. This could have resulted in significantly higher buy quantities than the shares available for sale.”

A senior brokerage official

Source: Business Standard.

Impact on NAVs and settlement

A chief investment officer at a mid-sized fund house said the Nifty’s sharp move during the auction was unexpected. However, some initial problems were possible because of the size of the operational change.

Share prices were expected to normalise when markets reopened on Tuesday. If the closing price did not reflect fair value, normal trading at the next market open would allow prices to adjust.

Mutual funds must use prescribed valuation rules when calculating net asset value. They cannot independently decide what the fair closing price should be.

The process is automated and usually uses the closing price from the exchange with the higher trading volume. In most cases, this is the NSE.

The effects could have been larger if the change had been introduced on a derivatives-expiry day. On an expiry day, the closing auction price could create large gains for some traders and large losses for others because settlement values would be affected.

Introducing the system on a non-expiry day reduced the immediate impact. Nifty derivatives contracts expire every Tuesday.

Source: Business Standard.

Why SEBI introduced the system

SEBI’s closing auction system has three main aims:

• Bring all end-of-day buying and selling orders into one order book, reducing the effect of isolated late trades on the official closing price.
• Allow institutional investors, index funds and exchange-traded funds to complete large closing trades within a larger pool of liquidity.
• Help passive funds rebalance at the official closing price and reduce tracking error.

The system is similar to closing auctions used by the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and the London Stock Exchange.

It is expected to make closing prices reflect actual demand and supply more accurately, improve price discovery and reduce the effect of large last-minute trades.

SEBI will also change the morning pre-open session by introducing similar random-closing and order-entry rules from 7 September 2026.

Source: Share.Market; Business Standard.