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Informist, Thursday, Jul. 23, 2026

 

By Gopika Balasubramanium
 

MUMBAI – The headline equity indices are expected to continue falling with investors worried by the worsening conflict between the US and Iran in West Asia and crude oil climbing back above $100 a barrel. Persistent selling by foreign investors has also affected sentiment, as the market had expected they would return once the war eased and the rally led by artificial intelligence stocks in other markets cools. Traders will also react to the June quarter earnings of information technology major Infosys and dominant airline operator InterGlobe Aviation.

 

"Going forward, developments surrounding the US-Iran conflict, crude oil price movements, FII (foreign institutional investor) flows, global macroeconomic data, and management commentary during the earnings season are expected to be the key drivers of market direction in the near term," Sunny Agrawal, head of fundamental research at SBI Securities, said. Traders' concerns are amplified by the sharp rise in crude oil prices, with Brent crude hovering around $98 a barrel, he said. At 1703 IST, the near-month futures contract of Brent crude oil on the InterContinental Exchange was at $98.74 a barrel.

 

Thursday, the Nifty 50 fell as low as 23807.20 points, close to its support level, but came off the low to settle at 23869.60 points, down 0.5% from Wednesday. The BSE Sensex closed at 76391.39 points, down 363.66 points or 0.5%. "Sentiment looks negative and the market might continue to remain weak in the near term," Rupak De, senior technical analyst at LKP Securities, said. "On the lower end, the index might fall towards 23600 (points) or even lower in the near term. On the higher end, 24000 might remain a resistance for the next few days."

 

The broader market indices were hit harder, with all closing around 1% lower. Barring sectoral indices tracking the automobile and media sectors, all the others ended in the red. The steepest fall was seen in the Nifty Realty, which closed around 2% lower, followed by the Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Oil & Gas, which ended 1% lower.

 

InterGlobe Aviation will be in focus Friday as the IndiGo airline operator remained in the red for the second quarter with rising aviation turbine fuel prices, the sharp depreciation of the rupee against the dollar, and the war in West Asia weighing on its June quarter earnings. The company reported a loss for the June quarter for the first time since 2022. Thursday, the stock closed around 2% lower. The company reported its earnings after the market closed.

 

InterGlobe Aviation reported a net loss of INR 3.82 billion against a net profit of INR 21.61 billion for the June quarter a year ago as its aircraft fuel expenses ballooned to INR 108.33 billion from INR 58.33 billion. None of the nine estimates available with Informist had predicted a loss for the IndiGo operator.

 

Infosys posted a sequential growth of 1.0% in constant currency terms in the first quarter of the financial year 2026-27 (Apr-Mar). Its operating margin in the quarter was 21.1%. The company cut the FY27 sales growth guidance to 1.5-3.0% from 1.5-3.5?rlier. The company's net profit for the quarter fell 8.6% sequentially while sales rose 3.9%. Thursday, the stock closed at INR 1,047.40, down 0.5% from Wednesday.  End

 

US$1 = INR 96.57

 

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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