Where is the market headed?
It turned out to be a quiet and listless day for the markets, with very little movement overall. The only action was seen in capital market stocks, while the rest of the market remained flat. There were also some fresh murmurs that negotiations between the US and India are moving forward, which gave traders some hope. But in general, it was a low-volume, directionless day.
The big rumor making rounds today was about weekly expiries possibly coming to an end. SEBI is expected to float a consultation paper soon, suggesting the removal of weekly F&O contracts. The process usually involves gathering public opinion before arriving at a verdict, but past experience shows that consultation papers rarely bring about radical changes. Still, the possibility has shaken market participants.
Market Overview
On the index front, Nifty closed almost flat at +0.13%. Interestingly, it did not close the gap created two days ago, which is a good sign. After a consistent run for the past week, the index is now not too far from its all-time high of 25,000.
Nifty Next 50
Nifty Junior gained 0.33%, while midcaps and small caps stayed flat.
Nifty Mid and Small Cap
Bank Nifty
Bank Nifty also added 0.24%, though none of the indices broke out of their recent ranges.
GOLD
Gold was flat, though in dollar terms it slipped from 3,670 to 3,620, while the rupee weakened further against the dollar.
Advance Decline Ratio
Heat Maps
In the broader market, Shriram Finance, Axis Bank, NTPC, and Adani Enterprises showed some gains, while Infosys and Wipro lost steam after their strong two-day rally. FMCG names like Unilever, Titan, and Bajaj Auto also saw losses.
In the Nifty Next 50 pack, IOC, Britannia, CG Power, and PSU banks did well, while Chola Finance, Adani Power, and DMart fell.
Mover Of The Day
The biggest movers of the day were BSE and Angel One, which fell nearly 5% on reports of the possible ban on weekly derivatives. This is huge because as much as 40% of NSE’s profits and 15–20% of BSE’s profits come from weekly options. If this revenue source goes away, the impact could be severe. The hope is that some of this volume may shift to intraday cash markets or monthly expiries, but the damage will still be significant.
There is a strong belief that SEBI will push through this change. Many traders who had built small businesses around weekly options are likely to get hurt, and social media was filled with angst today.
Sectoral Overview
Sector-wise, Oil and Gas stocks finally saw a good move after days of doing nothing, with Gujarat State Petronet, GAIL, and HPCL moving up. The Nifty Oil & Gas index gained 1.1%, while Media, PSU banks, and PSEs also did well. The biggest loser was the Capital Market index, down 1.6%.
Sector of the Day
Nifty Capital Market Index
Nifty Oil & Gas Index
Tweets Of the Day
On the global liquidity side, tweets highlighted how money supply has gone up by $10 trillion this year alone, growing at 9.3% annually. If your money is sitting idle in a bank at 5%, you are essentially getting poorer every year. The only way forward is to take risk and be an asset owner. It’s like running on a treadmill: the money supply keeps moving faster, and you must run even faster to stay in place.
