India’s equity indices rose more than 1% on Friday, as strength in banking and IT stocks helped buck the weakness in most Asian markets, triggered by the sell-off in AI-related and semiconductor stocks in the region.

The NSE’s Nifty 50 rose 261.55 points, or 1.1%, to close at 24,334.3, while the BSE Sensex gained 964.58 points, or 1.25%, to end at 78,151.45.

“Our markets were insulated from the Asian selling due to the lack of AI play,” said Sham Chandak, head of institutional equities at Elios Financial Services.

The Nifty IT index rose 1.75%, while Bank Nifty gained 1.6% and the Auto index climbed 1.2%.

“With the shaky AI trend trading globally, Indian IT services stocks have taken a breather and are partially aided by better-than-expected earnings,” said Chandak. “Major banking stocks like HDFC, ICICI, Kotak and Axis are set to announce their earnings on Saturday, and the market is going in with an expectation of good numbers.”

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan fell 4.03%, Hong Kong declined 1.8%, China lost 3.05%, and Taiwan dropped 6.5%. South Korean markets were closed on Friday but had fallen 6.4% at Thursday’s close.
The Nifty advanced 0.5%, and the Sensex gained nearly 0.8% during the rollercoaster trading week, with fresh tensions in West Asia triggering a rebound in oil prices.Brent crude futures traded at $86 a barrel on Friday evening, up from $76 last week amid renewed tensions involving the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil transit route, between the US and Iran.

Technical and derivative indicators are pointing to continued gains next week.

Ashish Katwa, technical analyst at Stoxbox, said the Nifty had resumed its uptrend after three sessions of consolidation, forming its strongest bullish candle since June 12.

“Options data continues to support the bullish outlook, with fresh put writing at the 24,200 and 24,000 strikes establishing a strong support base,” he said. “Meanwhile, call unwinding at the 24,500 strike signals scope for further upside, while fresh call writing at the 24,600 and 24,700 strikes is expected to act as the immediate resistance zone.”

He said the bias remains positive for next week, with any dip towards 24,200-24,250 presenting a buying opportunity as long as the Nifty holds above 23,970. Immediate upside targets are seen at 24,500 and 24,700.

The India VIX, the market’s fear gauge, rose 2.1% to 13.15.

Broader markets underperformed the benchmarks. The Nifty Midcap 150 fell 0.4%, and the Nifty Smallcap 250 declined 0.6% on Friday. For the week, the indices lost 0.9% and 0.6%, respectively. Of the 4,412 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,635 advanced while 2,588 declined.

Foreign portfolio investors were net sellers of shares worth 376 crore, while domestic institutional investors were net buyers of shares worth 1,018 crore.

Cited by Barron’s as one of the top financial websites to visit on the weekend, Financial Sense (www.financialsense.com) provides educational resources to the broad public audience through a daily podcast, editorials, current news and resource links on salient financial market issues. Begun in 1985 as a local talk radio program, Financial Sense Newshour (www.financialsense.com/financial-sense-newshour) is a weekly webcast with host Jim Puplava and top financial thinkers. Writing staff of Financial Sense includes: Jim Puplava, Chris Puplava, Ryan Puplava, and Cris Sheridan.

JSW Steel’s consolidated profit for the June quarter more than doubled year-on-year to 4,696 crore, aided by robust revenue growth, higher volumes, and lower finance costs. The bottomline was higher than Street expectations.

The country’s largest producer of steel reported its earnings during market hours on Friday, and its shares climbed 1.4% on the BSE at 1,238.35. While higher compared to the previous year, the bottomline was 75% lower sequentially as the March quarter benefited from one-time gains of 17,888 crore.

Consolidated revenue from operations for the June quarter rose around 10% on year to 47,364 crore; the year-on-year revenue growth stood at 19% on a proforma basis after adjusting the sales of Bhushan Power in the comparable quarter. The entity was de-consolidated from JSW Steel from March earlier this year.

Revenue growth for the steelmaker was boosted by a combination of higher steel prices and a 4% growth in consolidated sales volumes to 6.25 million tonne for the quarter.

Total expenses for the quarter rose less than 4% on year to 41,830 crore—relatively lower than the revenue growth for the period—helped by a near 23% drop in finance costs to 1,712 crore. JSW Steel’s consolidated net debt is down to 46,157 crore at the end of June from 53,870 crore a quarter ago.

Net debt to equity ratio at the end of the quarter stood at 0.42 times, down from 0.51 times at the end of the March quarter, while the net debt to Ebitda ratio stood at 1.46 times, down from 1.81 times.
The revenue growth and relatively lower growth in expenses boosted the consolidated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the company, which rose 38% on year to 9,383 crore. The Ebitda made on each tonne of steel rose 23% on year to 14,990 during the quarter.

The primary market will stay active next week, with five IPOs opening for subscription and four IPOs set to list on the exchanges. The focus will be on Xtranet Technologies and Cube Highways Trust InvIT, which are the mainboard offerings scheduled to open next week. Alongside them, a few SME issues will also hit the market. Investors will also track the listing of SBI Funds Management, Millworks Technologies and Alpine Texworld after their IPOs close this week.

The week comes after strong demand in the IPO market in the week gone by, led by SBI Funds Management. The Rs 9,813 crore IPO of India’s largest mutual fund house was subscribed over 40 times and drew demand of nearly Rs 2.98 lakh crore. Its grey market premium hovered around 16%, suggesting a positive listing expectation.

Xtranet Technologies IPO

Xtranet Technologies will open its Rs 166.8 crore mainboard IPO for subscription on July 23. The issue will close on July 27. The company has fixed a price band of Rs 120-127 per share. The IPO is entirely a fresh issue of 1.31 crore shares. There is no offer for sale. The shares are proposed to be listed on BSE and NSE, with a tentative listing date of July 30.

The lot size is 110 shares. At the upper price band, retail investors will need to invest Rs 13,970 for one lot.

Share India Capital Services is the book-running lead manager, while KFin Technologies is the registrar.

Incorporated in 2002, Xtranet Technologies is an integrated IT solutions provider. The company offers enterprise applications, digital transformation, managed services, proprietary platforms and strategic technology partnerships.
RIL Q1 Takeaways: What Mukesh Ambani said on Jio IPO and how Reliance Consumer doubled revenue
The company plans to use IPO proceeds for debt repayment, purchase and installation of systems and hardware, working capital requirements and general corporate purposes. It has earmarked Rs 21.99 crore for repayment or prepayment of borrowings, Rs 7.30 crore for capital expenditure and Rs 102 crore for working capital.

Cube Highways Trust InvIT IPO

Cube Highways Trust InvIT will also open next week. The mainboard issue will open on July 22 and close on July 24. The IPO size is Rs 5,000 crore. The issue is a book-building offer and will list on BSE and NSE. Kotak Mahindra Capital is the lead manager to the issue.
The Cube Highways Trust InvIT issue will be watched closely because infrastructure investment trusts give investors exposure to operating infrastructure assets. InvITs are generally tracked by long-term investors looking for cash-flow visibility, yield and exposure to roads and infrastructure.

SME IPOs next week

Apart from the two mainboard issues, the SME market will also see activity. Shree Balaji Mala Textiles will open its BSE SME IPO on July 22 and close on July 24. The price band is Rs 66-70 per share and the issue size is Rs 18.90 crore.

Metalic Technoforge will open its NSE SME issue on July 21 and close on July 23. The price band is Rs 72-77 and the issue size is Rs 49.96 crore.

Gulf Lloyds India will open its BSE SME fixed-price issue on July 20 and close on July 22. The issue price is Rs 100 per share and the issue size is Rs 18.19 crore.

Four listings to watch

The listing calendar will also be busy next week. SBI Funds Management will be the biggest listing to track after its public issue saw strong institutional and retail demand. The IPO was subscribed over 40 times, with QIB demand crossing 140 times. Its GMP is around 16%.

Millworks Technologies will also be watched closely because of its grey market premium of more than 100%, which signals strong listing expectations. However, grey market trends are unofficial and can change before listing.

Alpine Texworld is another scheduled listing, but its GMP is at 0%, suggesting muted listing expectations for now. The fourth listing of Sotefin Bharat will also be tracked by investors as the market tests appetite across mainboard and SME names after a strong run in recent offerings.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)

Originally published on July 16, 2026

By Jennifer Nash

The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index showed activity expanded significantly in July, with the index jumping 31.1 points to 41.4. This marks the highest level for the index since