DayStarter

Market snapshot

Equities and sectors

Indian equities closed higher on Friday, 3 July 2026. The Nifty 50 closed at 24,270.85, up 0.39%, and the Sensex closed at 77,763.91, up 0.34%. The Nifty opened with a 200-point gap up at 24,376. It then traded mostly between 24,320 and 24,350 in the first half, retested around 24,370 near noon, moved below 24,300 by about 1:30 PM toward the 24,250-24,260 zone, and ended at 24,270.85.

The broader market was mixed. The Nifty Smallcap 250 closed slightly higher, while the Nifty Next 50, Nifty Midcap 150, and Nifty Microcap 250 closed lower.

Sectoral indices

Realty, IT, and Pharma were the strongest sector indices. Nifty Realty rose 2.19%, Nifty IT rose 1.76%, and Nifty Pharma rose 1.72%. Energy and PSU Bank were the weakest. Nifty Energy fell 1.33%, and Nifty PSU Bank fell 1.54%.

F&O stock movers

Among F&O stocks, HCLTECH, LODHA, KAYNES, NATIONALUM, and ZYDUSLIFE were the top gainers. POWERINDIA, GVT&D, CGPOWER, POLICYBZR, and DMART were the top losers.

Commodities and currency

MCX commodity futures were mostly higher. Gold rose 1.28% to 1,47,621.00, and silver rose 1.91% to 2,33,608.00. Crude oil rose 0.28% to 6,558.00, and natural gas rose 1.11% to 309.40.

USD/INR was quoted at ₹95.39 in Zerodha Markets, down 0.24%, and at ₹95.22 on Mint’s front-page ticker. The US 10-year bond yield was listed at 4.48, up 0.22%, while the India 10-year bond yield was listed at 6.71, down 0.01%. Mint also listed EUR at ₹108.94 and GBP at ₹127.13. Brent crude was quoted around $72 a barrel and at $72.76, up 0.33, on Mint’s front-page ticker.

Institutional flows

Over the last five sessions, FIIs were net sellers of ₹4,005.0 crore, while DIIs were net buyers of ₹12,632.0 crore.

The macro view

The macro section was led by a slower but still expanding services sector, lower forex reserves, changes to rural employment spending, monsoon updates, and policy moves across automobiles, shipping insurance, energy, storage batteries, blood banks, and lending conduct.

Services, reserves and jobs

Services PMI: The HSBC Services PMI eased to 57.4 in June from 59.8 in May. A PMI above 50 still means expansion, but the pace slowed. The reading was the slowest services-sector expansion in 17 months. New business growth was at its weakest pace in over two-and-a-half years.

Forex reserves: India’s foreign exchange reserves fell by $5.65 billion to $666.93 billion in the week ended 26 June. Gold reserves fell by $5.39 billion to $102.53 billion, and foreign currency assets fell by $150 million.

Rural jobs scheme: The Centre released the first instalment of ₹25,863 crore to states for the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (Gramin). This replaced MGNREGA from 1 July 2026. The national average notified wage rose to ₹327.4 per day from ₹298.8, an increase of ₹28.6 per day, or over 10%.

Automobiles, monsoon and shipping

CAFE credit trading: The power ministry is weighing a 19 May draft credit-debit passbook system. Carmakers that exceeded CAFE Phase II targets for FY23-FY27 may be allowed to sell surplus compliance credits to peers. The BEE would sell credits at ₹2,500 per CO g/km. The penalty for non-compliant vehicles would be ₹25,000-50,000 per vehicle, plus a ₹10 lakh base fine.

Monsoon: The IMD warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall over central and western India. The southwest monsoon, which brings about 70% of annual rainfall, hit the Kerala coast on 4 June. This was three days later than the normal onset date. It is set to advance further over the next three days.

Shipping insurance: The Bharat Maritime Insurance Pool has underwritten risks worth more than ₹40,000 crore and issued over 500 policies. The Union cabinet approved it on 18 April with a sovereign guarantee of ₹12,980 crore. The pool brings together 23 insurance and reinsurance companies, with GIC Re as administrator.

Energy, minerals and storage

Oil exploration: India is bidding out about 250,000 sq km of unexplored area. Domestic crude production in 2025-26 was 25.98 million tonnes. That met about 10% of India’s needs, or roughly 522,000 barrels per day. This was below the 2011 peak of just over 900,000 barrels per day.

Emergency gas curbs: The petroleum ministry withdrew most provisions of the emergency natural gas supply regulation order that had been imposed during the West Asia conflict. The withdrawal came after LNG shipments through the Strait of Hormuz resumed.

Fertilizer supply: Fifteen vessels carrying fertilizers and raw materials crossed the Strait of Hormuz. This included 332,000 tonnes of urea across eight vessels, 257,000 tonnes of DAP across four vessels, and 111,000 tonnes of sulphur across three vessels.

Mineral auction: The Centre cancelled the auction of nine critical and strategic mineral blocks because of poor investor response and a lack of qualified bidders.

Battery star ratings: The Centre is planning a one-to-five-star energy-efficiency labelling system for batteries used with solar PV and large-scale storage. The rating will use a watt-hour metric. The system is likely to be finalized by September and may be voluntary at first. India targets 500GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030.

Health and lending

Blood-bank audits: The Centre will make external quality audits and centralized digital inventory tracking mandatory for India’s 4,153 blood banks. India’s annual blood requirement is 14.6 million units.

Mis-selling rule: An RBI circular dated 15 June said customer consent alone is not enough. Lenders must show that a product was sold to meet an actual customer need.

Mint; HSBC

By the numbers

Corporate action and earnings

Domestic headlines

• HCLTech: HCLTech secured a $1.14 billion, five-year contract from an unnamed European Fortune Global 50 company. The contract is to build an AI-driven operating model and manage the company’s global digital workplace and enterprise networks. It runs through December 2031 and has an option to extend for another five years.
• Vodafone Idea: Lenders are asking Vodafone Idea to scale back the financial projections behind its ₹35,000-crore debt plan. They are also seeking a corporate guarantee from another Aditya Birla Group firm. The loan would fund ₹45,000 crore of network capex. Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Plc together own 25.6% of Vi, with ABG at 9.57% at end-March. The government owns 49%.
• Prudential and ICICI Pru Life: ICICI Bank and Prudential Corp. Holdings signed a letter of undertaking. The UK insurer will temporarily give up board representation and abstain from special-resolution votes at ICICI Prudential Life while it pursues a 75% stake in Bharti Life Insurance for ₹3,500 crore, plus up to ₹700 crore. Prudential will cut its ICICI Pru Life holding to 10% from about 21.9%. As of 30 June, ICICI Bank held 50.84%, and Prudential held 21.89%.
• Tata Steel: Tata Steel plans capex of around ₹20,000 crore in the current financial year. This is 38% higher than the ₹14,559 crore spent a year earlier. About 60% is allocated to India. Consolidated steelmaking capacity is over 36 MTPA, and the long-term aim is more than 50 million tonnes.

• Nykaa: Nykaa expects Q1FY27 net sales to grow around 30%. GMV and NSV are expected to grow in the early thirties percent range, while fashion NSV growth is expected to be in the mid-fifties percent range. March-quarter revenue rose 28% year-on-year to about ₹2,648 crore, and FY revenue crossed ₹10,000 crore, up 26%.
• Greaves Cotton: Greaves Cotton reported FY26 consolidated revenue of ₹3,437 crore, up 18%. Ebitda rose 76% to ₹240 crore, and profit attributable to owners nearly doubled to ₹107 crore. Dependence on three-wheeler engines fell from about 80% a decade ago to just over 25%.
• PB Fintech: PB Fintech shares fell 5% after a Temasek Holdings unit reportedly sold a 2.37% stake through a block deal worth up to ₹1,740 crore, priced at ₹1,601 per share.
• Sumitomo Chemical India: Sumitomo Chemical India shares rose around 14%, the biggest single-day gain since September 2024. The move came after parent Sumitomo Chemical’s Korean subsidiary Dongwoo Fine-Chem signed a JV with Samsung Electro-Mechanics for glass core substrates.
• IT Q1FY27 preview: Jefferies India estimates that aggregate sequential constant-currency revenue for covered IT firms will be flat in Q1FY27. JP Morgan expects Indian IT firms could trim FY27 guidance after Q1. For example, Infosys ex-Optimum could move to 1-2.5% from 1.5-3.5%. The Nifty IT is down 28% so far in 2026. It trades at a one-year forward P/E of 15x, compared with a five-year average of 26x, based on Bloomberg data cited in the report. Results begin with TCS on 9 July.

• Community apps: MyGate, fresh off a ₹225-crore raise from Dharana Capital, gets about 70% of revenue from advertising. NoBroker’s home services contribute 30% of revenue. The addressable gated-community advertising opportunity is about $800 million.
• Radico Khaitan: Radico Khaitan expects 20% growth in its premium-and-above segment in FY27 and a 120-bps margin rise. FY26 net sales crossed ₹6,000 crore.
• IIFCL: IIFCL raised ₹1,848 crore through NCDs. It received bids of ₹3,048 crore, about six times the ₹500-crore base, at a coupon of 7.25%.
• JSW MG Motor India: JSW MG Motor India is targeting over 70% localization for the Windsor EV. The model has crossed 75,000 cumulative wholesales in 21 months since its October 2024 launch.
• Regulatory and media: MeitY extended WhatsApp’s deadline to 9 July to explain its planned username feature. MeitY separately ordered Instagram to disable advertisements promoting child sexual abuse material. The I&B ministry directed BARC to halt TV ratings pending registration under the Television Ratings Policy, 2026.

Mint; Zerodha

Upcoming events

Earnings calendar

Global pulse

Global indices

Global equity markets were mostly higher across the listed indices. The FTSE 100 was the only listed index in the table to close lower.

International headlines

• US jobs and gold: The US added 57,000 jobs in June, below forecasts. Gold rose toward $4,200 an ounce as the data reduced expectations of further Federal Reserve rate hikes.
• Brent crude: Brent traded around $72 a barrel in thin trading, near pre-conflict levels. Strait of Hormuz shipping recovered amid US-Iran peace talks. Saudi Arabia restored crude exports to about 90% of pre-war levels, and UAE shipments also rebounded.
• Opec+: Seven Opec+ members, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman, decided to raise output quotas by 188,000 barrels per day. The increase will be implemented in August 2026.
• Hormuz transits: A multinational maritime body overseen by the US Navy said the US assisted 70 transits of the Strait of Hormuz over the past 72 hours, including 18 on Saturday.
• Microsoft: Microsoft launched Microsoft Frontier Company with $2.5 billion in funding to help enterprises choose and deploy AI. Initial clients include Unilever and Novo Nordisk.
• Europe: The STOXX Europe 600 was up 0.2%. It traded near a record high and was on track for its best weekly performance in more than a month.

Zerodha; Mint

Management chatter

The following comments are kept verbatim from named speakers.

Zerodha Management Chatter

Feature: Weekend recap

The weekend recap covered markets, corporate updates, policy, trade, technology, startups, consumer trends, energy, and commodities.

Markets and corporate

• HDFC Bank: HDFC Bank posted a June-quarter business update. Gross advances rose 15.4% year-on-year to ₹31.70 lakh crore, and deposits grew 14.7% year-on-year to ₹31.7 lakh crore. Average advances under management rose 10.8% to ₹30.4 lakh crore. CASA deposits rose 5.4% to ₹10.3 lakh crore.
• Adani charges: The US Department of Justice told a US judge that it had dropped criminal charges against Gautam Adani and seven others on legal and practical grounds. It cited six overarching reasons, alongside an $18 million settlement.
• Reliance Capital: The CBI arrested the former CFO of Reliance Capital.

Policy and trade

• Trade pacts: Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said India-Peru FTA talks are unlikely to conclude soon. Mexico and Brazil trade deals are targeted for completion by year-end. There will be no roll-back of toy quality-control orders.
• India-Israel BIT: The India-Israel bilateral investment treaty came into effect. This is India’s first such treaty with an OECD member.
• GIFT City: The government scrapped TDS on GIFT City aircraft lease rentals to attract aircraft leasing to the IFSC.
• Chinese herbicides: India tightened scrutiny of Chinese herbicide, or glufosinate, imports. Customs authorities have been asked to provisionally assess shipments while an anti-dumping review is underway.
• Office leasing: Office leasing fell 14.5% year-on-year in Q2 of the calendar year across the top eight cities. GCCs remained the principal growth engine.

Tech, startups, and consumer

• Space data centres: Orbital, a US satellite startup, is seeking FCC clearance to put 100,000 satellites in low earth orbit to host data centres for AI compute. Founder and CEO Euwyn Poon told ET that launch is likely next year on a shared payload.
• Semiconductors: PM Modi inaugurated a third semiconductor unit, the CG Semi OSAT facility, in Sanand, Gujarat.
• Telegram: The I&B ministry told Telegram to act against piracy or face action. It asked for a report within 15 days on steps to detect and remove infringing content.
• PS5 and GTA VI: PS5 supply is running short as demand from buyers upgrading ahead of GTA VI’s November launch is higher than supply. GTA V has sold more than 225 million copies for over $10 billion.
• Premium petrol: Premium petrol sales rose 5-10% last quarter. Motorists are choosing higher-octane fuel amid concerns that E20 blending could affect mileage and engine performance. Availability at stations is limited.
• C-suite to startup street: ET’s Deep Dive reported a trend of corporate veterans leaving India Inc. for entrepreneurship as a second act. Examples included founders such as Falguni Nayar of Nykaa.

Energy and commodities

• Hormuz shipping: Tankers are making U-turns in the Strait of Hormuz, with some taking the Iran route. Around 34 commodity vessels have crossed the strait daily on average since Monday, with oil and gas flows returning toward normal.

The Economic Times

Day at a glance

Closing

Primary sources: Zerodha AfterMarket Report, 3 July 2026 close; Mint, Bengaluru edition, 6 July 2026; The Economic Times, Mumbai edition, 5 July 2026, Weekend Recap. This briefing aggregates publicly reported facts from the named sources and is not investment advice.