Stock Market Highlights Today: Nifty gained over 50 pts, is the IT rebound sustainable, 31st July 2026

The Indian equity market extended its winning streak on Friday, with the Nifty 50 adding a little over 50 points to trade above the 24,350 level in the session, supported by sustained foreign buying and broadly stable earnings. The Sensex also gained more than 50 points around the 77,950 mark, as buying in financials and autos offset weakness in information technology shares. According to NSE data, the advance in frontline indices came against a backdrop of record domestic institutional ownership and fresh foreign inflows into large caps.

The session opened firm, tracking positive cues from GIFT Nifty and overnight strength in US technology stocks that lifted Asian markets. By 9:22 am, the Nifty had crossed 24,350, while the Sensex hovered just below 78,000, and both indices largely held their opening gains through the day in a relatively narrow range. Broader indices such as the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 were also in the green, rising up to 0.3 percent, signalling continued risk appetite beyond the benchmark names.

Gains were not evenly distributed across sectors, with the market breadth turning positive as the day progressed. Per NSE figures, the exchange recorded 1,473 advances against 844 declines and 94 unchanged stocks, indicating that buyers outnumbered sellers despite pressure in select pockets. The tone remained constructive in mid and small caps, consistent with the longer term trend of earnings and market capitalisation shifting away from the Nifty 50 towards the broader Nifty 500 universe.

Index Performance

Key equity and volatility indices reflected the mixed but constructive tone of the session.

Index	Close	Move & % Change	Comments
Nifty 50	approx. 24,350	+50 pts (approx. +0.2%)	Extended gains for a third session, supported by financials and autos.
Sensex	approx. 77,950	+50 pts (approx. +0.1%)	Traded in a tight range, Bajaj twins and M&M among key supports.
Nifty Midcap 100	n/a	up to +0.3%	Broader buying interest, in line with multi-year profit broadening.
Nifty Smallcap 100	n/a	up to +0.3%	Continued participation from smaller names amid strong DII flows.

Foreign flows and sector rotation were central to Friday’s move. According to a recent Motilal Oswal Financial Services report based on NSE data, foreign institutional investors have cumulatively sold about 58 billion dollars of Indian equities since the market peak in September 2024, while domestic institutions invested a record 166 billion dollars over the same 22 months, aided by monthly systematic investment plan inflows of roughly 3 billion dollars. Yet, in the last three sessions, FIIs have turned net buyers, purchasing equity worth Rs 7,360 crore, a shift that market participants say is lending resilience to large caps.

VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments, said the relative stability of Indian equities is drawing foreign interest at a time when some global markets are seeing unusually sharp swings. “India is a stable market and the downside risks are limited now, particularly in largecaps where the valuations are fair and growth prospects are good,” he noted, adding that recent FII buying “has the potential to impart resilience to the market” as Q1 results point to a revival in earnings growth momentum. That backdrop helped financials and consumption names absorb profit taking in IT.

Sectorally, nearly all major indices traded higher apart from Nifty IT, which dropped more than 2 percent in Friday’s session. Financials continued to underpin the market, with Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv rallying alongside other private lenders, while auto stocks such as Mahindra & Mahindra added to the positive tone. The weakness in IT came despite the sector logging its best monthly performance in six years, highlighting the volatility around quarterly results and global technology sentiment. Other sectors such as consumer durables, realty and auto have also posted strong gains in July, while capital goods and power indices have lagged.

Sectoral Performance

Sector moves were differentiated, with financials and autos offsetting IT weakness.

Sector/Index	Direction	Key Drivers
Nifty Financials	up	Support from Bajaj Finance, banks, and evidence of earnings revival.
Nifty Auto	up	Buying in M&M and Hyundai Motor India after in-line margin prints.
Nifty IT	down more than 2%	Profit taking after an 18.4% monthly rebound, global tech volatility.
Consumer Durables	up in July	BSE data show around 9% monthly gains, tracking domestic demand.
Realty	up in July	About 8% monthly rise, aided by broader midcap strength.
Capital Goods	down in July	Sector index off around 7%, dragged by weak earnings in select names.
Power	down in July	Roughly 6% decline, reflecting rotation into IT and consumption.

Individual movers across the Nifty and Nifty 500 added colour to the session. On the Sensex, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, M&M, Trent and Asian Paints were among the top gainers, rising up to 3 percent, according to BSE data. Bajaj Finance shares were up more than 5 percent in early trade, with brokerages turning positive after strong CASA and deposit growth in Q1 updates supported the broader private banking narrative this month. The stock is trading less than 1 percent below its 52 week high of Rs 1,128.10 and remains about 43 percent above its 52 week low of Rs 787.90.

In the broader Nifty 500, Hyundai Motor India climbed over 7 percent at the open, emerging as the top gainer on that index, as some brokerages stayed constructive after in line Q1 margins of 9.3 percent. HFCL advanced more than 5 percent after winning an export order worth Rs 441.5 crore for optical fibre cables, with the stock up over 181 percent year to date and more than 156 percent over the past year. Aarti Industries gained more than 3 percent following strong Q1 numbers, where net profit surged 260.5 percent year on year to Rs 155 crore, leaving the stock just 6 percent below its 52 week high.

On the losing side, IT and capital goods names saw sharper cuts. Infosys, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services fell up to 4 percent, leading sectoral losses in Nifty IT despite the index’s 18.4 percent jump over the month, its best since June 2020 when it rose 22.5 percent. Thermax dropped more than 14 percent in early trade, the top loser on the Nifty 500, after weak Q1 earnings where net profit plunged 83.4 percent year on year to Rs 25 crore from Rs 152 crore. Data Patterns declined over 7 percent after reporting a 13.5 percent fall in quarterly profit to Rs 22.1 crore, while Mankind Pharma and Paradeep Phosphates were down over 5 percent each despite recent gains and strong results.

Flows and positioning continue to reflect a structural shift in market ownership. According to NSE data compiled in the Motilal Oswal report, domestic institutional investors now hold a record 21 percent of Nifty 500 companies as of June 2026, up for the ninth consecutive quarter, while FII ownership has slipped to a new low of 17 percent. In the Nifty 50, DII ownership has risen to an all time high of 25.9 percent, overtaking FIIs whose stake has fallen to 22.7 percent, reversing the situation from June 2016 when foreign investors held 24.4 percent and DIIs just 13.2 percent. This domestic dominance has helped cushion the impact of global risk episodes on Indian equities.

Key Market Statistics

Key market indicators underline the supportive backdrop from domestic flows and breadth.

Statistic	Value/Change	Context
FII equity flows (last 3 days)	Rs 7,360 crore bought	Recent buying after prolonged outflows, aiding large cap resilience.
DII ownership in Nifty 500	21% (record high)	Up for nine straight quarters, per June 2026 shareholding data.
FII ownership in Nifty 500	17% (record low)	Reflects multi year foreign selling since September 2024 peak.
NSE advance decline	1,473 / 844 (94 unchanged)	Positive breadth despite sector specific profit taking.

On the technical front, domestic brokerages see the near term bias on Nifty as positive. Bajaj Broking noted that the index continues to form higher highs and higher lows on the daily chart, and expects it to head towards 24,390 and 24,500 in the coming sessions. The gap area between 24,041 and 24,136 is seen as immediate support, while a broader support zone has been revised higher to 23,800 to 24,000, a confluence of the 20 and 50 day exponential moving averages and Monday’s bullish gap. Resistance is pegged around 24,500 to 24,600, which aligns with the current month’s high and the April 2026 peak.

Global cues remained influential, particularly from technology heavy markets. Overnight gains in US AI linked stocks lifted Asian indices, with South Korea’s Kospi index surging around 16 percent in early trade, driven by a 25 percent spike in Samsung and a 21 percent jump in SK Hynix, according to exchange data referenced by Vijayakumar. He flagged that such double digit moves at the index level are rare and that the excessive volatility in global tech names may be nudging FIIs towards relatively steadier markets like India. That interplay between global tech exuberance and domestic stability is shaping sectoral rotation in local portfolios.

As the market heads into the next set of Q1 earnings and macro data prints, investors will watch whether fresh FII buying sustains and if the recent IT rally can absorb bouts of profit taking. The broadening of India Inc’s profit pool, with Nifty 50 companies now contributing only 51 percent of Nifty 500 aggregate profits compared with 87 percent in FY18, suggests that mid and small caps will remain central to the equity story. For now, the combination of strong domestic flows, improving earnings and supportive technicals is keeping the Nifty on track towards its immediate resistance band, even as global volatility in technology stocks injects a measure of caution into IT heavy portfolios.