Market Commentary     18-Jul-25
Mid-Session
Sensex tanks 586 pts; financial services shares under pressure
The headline equity benchmarks traded with major losses in early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 24,950 mark. Financial Services extended losses for the three trading sessions.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex tanked 586.32 points or 0.72% to 81,669.06. The Nifty 50 index slipped 171.45 points or 0.67% to 24,942.65.

In the broader market The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.43% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 0.50%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,458 shares rose and 2,337 shares fell. A total of 198 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, rallied 3.55% to 11.62. The Nifty 31 July 2025 futures were trading at 24,995.10 at a premium of 52.45 points as compared with the spot at 24,942.65.

The Nifty option chain for the 31 July 2025 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 55.7 lakh contracts at the 25,500 strike price. Maximum put OI of 53.1 lakh contracts was seen at 25,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Financial Services index shed 1.05% to 26,526.75. The index fell 1.49% in the three trading sessions.

Axis Bank (down 4.16%), SBI Life Insurance Company (down 1.85%), Shriram Finance (down 1.82%), HDFC Life Insurance Company (down 1.57%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (down 1.42%), ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company (down 1.39%), SBI Cards & Payment Services (down 1.35%), State Bank of India (down 0.97%), LIC Housing Finance (down 0.9%) and HDFC Bank (down 0.84%) down.

On the other hand, HDFC Asset Management Company (up 0.86%), REC (up 0.34%) and Bajaj Finance (up 0.28%) added.

Axis Bank declined 4.16% after the bank reported a 3.79% drop in standalone net profit to Rs 5,806.14 crore on 6.91% increase in total income to Rs 38,321.57 crore in Q1 FY26 over Q1 FY25.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Jagatjit Industries jumped 4.73% after the company announced the commencement of commercial production of ethanol from grain at its newly commissioned 200 KLPD grain-based ethanol distillery plant.

Route Mobile fell 3.96% after the company's consolidated net profit declined 32.23% to Rs 53.21 crore on a 4.77% drop in revenue from operation to Rs 1,050.83 crore in Q1 FY26 over Q1 FY25.

Indian Hotels Company (IHCL) added 1.32% after the company’s consolidated net profit rose 19.31% to Rs 296.37 crore on 31.66% surge in revenue from operations to Rs 2,041.08 crore in Q1 FY26 over Q1 FY25.

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