India Stocks Outlook
Nifty 50 seen opening 150-200 pts higher as oil ease
This story was originally published at 08:57 IST on 3 August 2026
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By Gopika Balasubramanium
MUMBAI – Benchmark equity indices are expected to open higher on Monday, defying the trend in Asian markets, amid easing of crude oil prices following US President Donald Trump's comments that peace talks with Iran would happen on Monday afternoon. This comes weeks after Washington struck off the interim peace deal with Tehran, which was signed in early June. Further, the sentiment was also aided by better earnings for the June quarter and a relatively stable rupee. Analysts see a stable rupee as a critical factor for foreign investors to see India in a better light as compared to other emerging markets.
"The Nifty 50 index is expected to see a gap-up opening around 200 points, Ashish Sherigar, senior technical analyst with NVS Brokerage, said. "The Nifty 50 index is expected to find support at 24400 points and face resistance at 24530 points," Nandish Shah, senior technical and derivatives analyst, said. He expects a gap-up opening of 150 points.
The July futures contract of the Gift Nifty indicates that the domestic market will open higher. At 0804 IST, the futures contract was at 24615.50, up 228.50 points or 0.9%. This was around 230 points above Nifty 50's previous close. Friday, the Nifty 50 settled at 24383.60 points, up 66.45 points or 0.3%. Barring the indices tied to information technology, fast-moving consumer goods, and consumer durables, all other major sectoral indices closed higher Friday. Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex closed at 78094.64 points, up 166.49 points or 0.2%. Broader market indices outperformed benchmark indices Friday. The Nifty Smallcap 250 index gained 3%, and so did the Nifty Midcap 50.
The stock exchanges will implement the new closing auction session for the equity cash segment from Monday. This is seen changing how cash market orders are handled and executed, and how trading prices are determined, for shares of companies in the permitted stock derivatives list, from 1515 IST to 1535 IST on trading days. The stocks will be traded as usual in the continuous trading session of the equity cash segment from 0915 IST to 1515 IST.
Traders will react to the July wholesale sales data from different automobile makers declared on Saturday. Escorts Kubota's tractor sales to dealerships grew 22% on year to 8,731 units. Mahindra & Mahindra posted a 26% on-year rise in total vehicle sales at 103,860 units. Hyundai Motor India's sales to domestic and global dealerships rose over 25% on year to 75,360 units. Eicher Motors' commercial vehicle volume rose around 16% on year to 8,241 units. The company sold a total of 118,232 motorcycles last month, up 34% on year.
Meanwhile, Tata Motors sold 39,641 commercial vehicles in July, registering a year-on-year growth of 37%. Maruti Suzuki India's total sales in July were 241,421 units, sharply higher than 180,526 units sold a year ago. Hero MotoCorp sold 533,416 units in total last month, up 19% on-year. Others such as Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor India are yet to release their July wholesale numbers.
This week's focus will also be on the Reserve Bank of India's three-day monetary policy committee meeting, at the end of which it is widely expected to hold the repo rate at 5.25% on the back of uncertainty over the impact of the war in West Asia and El Nio weather conditions on the economy and inflation.
In the US, the major indices ended higher Friday on upbeat sentiment post Amazon's strong quarterly results. Its results, along with a similar report from Microsoft last Wednesday, bolstered investor confidence in artificial intelligence-related stocks. However, Apple's shares fell after its results disappointed Wall Street.
The Nasdaq Composite closed 1% higher. The S&P 500 closed around 1% higher, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed modestly higher. Monday, the October futures contract of Brent Crude oil fell nearly 5% to around $84 a barrel after Trump cancelled a new wave of strikes on Iran on Sunday.
In Asia, indices opened lower Monday, with South Korea's Kospi falling more than 4%, dragged down by the index heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. The negative sentiment in Asian markets persisted despite easing crude oil prices after the US President's comments on possible peace talks between the warring countries later in the day. Mainland China's CSI 300 fell around 1%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose around 1%. The rise in Hong Kong's index was driven by buying interest in technology stocks, with heavyweights Alibaba and Baidu rising around 6% and 4%, respectively.
End
US$1 = INR 95.38
IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT
Edited by Saji George Titus
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