More Stories

Informist, Friday, Jul. 31, 2026

By Arundathi A R

MUMBAI – Bulls are likely to take hold of the equity market in the last trading session of the week as headline equity indices are expected to open higher. Indices are expected to extend their gains for a third straight session Friday, tracking early gains in most Asian equity indices. Brent crude oil prices also eased slightly to a low of $88 a barrel. Shares of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Bajaj Finserv, ITC, and Maruti Suzuki will be tracked as these Nifty 50 companies are scheduled to announce their June quarter earnings Friday.

Iran has vowed to "punish" the US after the US military said it had completed a "heavy wave of strikes" overnight, as the latest retaliation for an attack by Tehran on US forces in West Asia, Al Jazeera reported. Meanwhile, US President Trump has claimed his Board of Peace has reached "historic agreement for the complete disarmament of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza." Trump, who chaired the international group including more than 20 countries, said the agreement "will be carried out in carefully structured phases," The Guardian reported.

"This agreement is a critical step towards Gaza finally being governed by a new Palestinian government that will work closely with the Board of Peace to help the Palestinian people," Trump posted on his Truth Social account. "At the same time, Israel will have the security it deserves, with Gaza no longer used as a base for terror attacks."

At 0734 IST, the September futures contract of Brent crude oil was nearly 1% lower from its previous close at $88.25 a barrel on the Intercontinental Exchange. Crude oil prices shed almost 9% in a week and over 3% during the past seven sessions. However, they are over 21% higher than their pre-war levels. Crude oil prices eased in Thursday's trade as investors weighed ongoing talks between Iran and Oman over reopening the Strait of Hormuz, even as the US launched fresh strikes on Iran, Mint reported.

At 0741 IST, the August futures contract of GIFT Nifty was at 24424, marginally higher from Thursday's close. This was over 100 points higher than the Nifty 50's previous close of 24317.15, which suggested a higher opening for the market Friday.  

Nirav Harish Chheda of Nirmal Bang expects the market to remain positive in the near term, with 24500–24800 likely. He expects the Nifty 50 to find support at the 24000 level. "Going ahead, a decisive close above 24400 could lead it towards 24600 spot levels, which is also the upper band resistance of the past one-and-a-half-month-long consolidation range," Vipin Kumar, assistant vice president of research at Globe Capital Market, said. "Conversely, sustained trading below 24100 spot levels could drag it back to 23800 and lower levels in the near term." 

Motilal Oswal Financial Services said record domestic institutional investment inflows have cushioned against continuous foreign investment outflow. "A combination of geopolitical uncertainties, moderating earnings growth, and elevated valuations has kept FII (foreign institutional investor) sentiment toward India firmly negative, resulting in cumulative outflows of $58 billion over the past 22 months since the Indian market peaked in Sep'24," the brokerage said in a strategy report. However, record domestic institutional investment inflows of $166 billion during the same period emerged as a powerful counterbalance, comfortably absorbing foreign selling, according to the brokerage.

Foreign investors continued buying for a third successive session Thursday and net bought shares worth INR 36.24 billion. Meanwhile, domestic investors turned net sellers Thursday after buying for the past five days. They net sold shares worth INR 18.64 billion.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries is expected to post a consolidated net profit of INR 29.8 billion for the June quarter, down nearly 4% from a year ago. Its revenue is estimated at over INR 155.3 billion, up 12% on year. Maruti Suzuki India is likely to report a net profit of INR 32.2 billion, down 13% on year. The automobile major's revenue from operations is expected at INR 525.2 billion, up 37% on year. ITC is expected to report a net profit of INR 45 billion, which would mean a decline of 9% on year and a 13% on quarter, for the June quarter. Its revenue is expected to fall over 5% on year, but rise 16% sequentially to nearly INR 187 billion.

South Korea's KOSPI gained significantly during early trade, up over 13%. The Nikkei 225 was up over 4%. All three major US indices closed higher Thursday with gains in semiconductor stocks due to a 15% jump in Microsoft, coupled with double-digit gains in other technology stocks.  End

US$1 = INR 95.68

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

Edited by Himanshi Gupta

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.