Nifty's Narrowest Band in 3 Weeks as HDB, INFY Weigh

Benchmarks slipped for a second straight session Tuesday, with the Nifty 50 settling at 24,187, down 50 points or 0.21 percent. The Sensex fell 238 points to 77,470. The session's 127-point range was the tightest since July 10, and the index has now oscillated between 24,530 and 23,785 over the past 25 sessions with flattening moving averages and subdued momentum indicators.

Elevated crude oil prices near $90 a barrel, persistent foreign institutional selling, and the US-Iran conflict in its tenth consecutive day with Houthi threats of a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia all weighed. The rupee recovered 21 paise to close at 96.23 against the dollar, helped by encouraging FCNR flow data from the RBI and steady capital inflows, even as crude continued to exert broader pressure. WTI crude traded near $83 a barrel.

"Tuesday had a lot of competition for attention, earnings, expiry, and geopolitics all landing on the same session, and the index chose to lean weak," said Sarvam Goel, Founder of Pocketful. "The dip was minor and absorbed easily."

HDFC Bank and Infosys were the session's biggest drags. HDFC Bank declined for the second straight day following its earnings. Shriram Finance, Bajaj Finserv, and Eicher Motors were among the top gainers.

Sectorally, Auto led the rally. Bajaj Auto reported a 46 percent jump in net profit to ₹3,226 crore with revenue up 37 percent year-over-year. TVS Motor posted its highest-ever quarterly sales with profit rising 51 percent to ₹1,174 crore. Realty, Chemicals, and Cement closed in the green. PSU Banks, IT, and Oil & Gas ended lower.

The broader market told a different story. The Nifty Midcap 100 gained 0.30 percent and the Nifty Smallcap 100 advanced 0.53 percent. Market breadth remained positive: 275 of the Nifty 500 stocks closed in the green, and the BSE advance-decline ratio stood at 1.08.

On the macro front, the IMF trimmed India's FY27 GDP growth forecast by 10 basis points to 6.4 percent, citing elevated crude prices and El Niño risks, while raising the FY28 estimate to 6.7 percent. India's core infrastructure output accelerated to a five-month high of 5 percent year-over-year in June. SBI Funds Management listed at roughly a 7 percent premium after its IPO was oversubscribed over 40 times.

Key earnings Wednesday include Adani Power, Nestlé India, SRF, and Eternal. The European Central Bank's policy decision and any diplomatic developments on the US-Iran front will be watched. Three mainboard IPOs–Lohia Corp, Indo-MIM, and Xtranet Technologies–with a combined issue size of approximately ₹5,079 crore, open for subscription this week.