Market Wrap, July 18: NIFTY50 slips below 25,000, Sensex falls 501 points as banking stocks drag; Axis Bank biggest laggard

The Indian stock market settled lower for the second consecutive day on Friday, July 18, as earnings keep investors worried amid foreign fund outflows. The market participants also remained cautious following US and India trade talks.

On Thursday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that the negotiations between India and the US are underway to iron out pending issues for a trade deal. India and the US have been holding negotiations for the trade pact primarily to keep the tariffs below 20%.

The equity benchmark indices have slipped for the third straight week, with Sensex and NIFTY50 each falling 1%.

The banking stocks were the biggest laggards, with Nifty Bank tumbling 1%.

Axis Bank was the biggest losing stock, as the lender reported a 3% drop in Q1 FY26 consolidated net profit at ₹6,243.72 crore, impacted by the implementation of changes in non-performing assets and loan upgrade policy.

According to exchange data, on Thursday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹3,694.31 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹2,820.77 crore on a net basis.

On the global front, most of the stocks in Asia advanced on Friday as US stocks rallied following strong economic data, and that eased economic concerns.

Japan's Nikkei fell 0.21%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was seen up 1.32%. South Korea's KOSPI dipped 0.13%, while the Shanghai Composite closed 0.50% higher.

On Wall Street, both the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 settled at record highs on Thursday. The Nasdaq Composite rose 153.78 points, or 0.74%, to close at the 20,884.27 level, and the S&P 500 gained 33.66 points, or 0.54%, to end at 6,297.36.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average settled at 44,484.49, surging 229.71 points, or 0.52%.

As many as 3,038 stocks traded on the NSE on Friday. Out of this, 1,134 advanced and 1,820 stocks declined, while 84 scrips remained unchanged.

This indicated that the market breadth was in favour of negative.

A total of 69 stocks hit their 52-week highs, while 19 stocks touched their one-year lows. Besides, 66 stocks hit their upper circuit limits, and 33 touched their lower circuit bands on Friday.

NSE-listed firms' market capitalisation stood at ₹456.02 lakh crore at the end of the session, losing ₹2.5 lakh crore.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, stood at 11.39 levels, rising 1.33%.

The Nifty Smallcap 100 index fell 0.82% to end at 18,959.65 levels, while the Nifty Midcap 100 index closed 0.70% lower at 59,104.50 levels.

Axis Bank took the lead among the losers’ pack, tanking 5.27%. Shriram Finance (-3.06%), Bharat Electronics (-2.38%), HDFC Life Insurance (-1.78%), and Kotak Mahindra Bank (-1.67%) were the other top losers.

On the flip side, Wipro (2.21%), Bajaj Finance (1.97%), Tata Steel (1.63%), HCL Technologies (1.12%), and IndusInd Bank (1.03%) were the top gainers on Friday.