Market Wrap, July 4: Indices settle in the green, NIFTY50 reclaims 25,400, Sensex up 193 points; Bajaj Finance top gainer

After a volatile session, the Indian stock market on Friday, July 4, recovered from its intraday losses and settled with minor gains led by a rally in oil and gas, IT, pharma, and realty sectors.

The volatile session can be referred to investors’ nervousness after US President Donald Trump said his administration will begin sending letters to trading partners and notify them about unilateral tariff rates. The tariffs will take effect from August 1, 2025.

The market participants are also waiting for more triggers from March-June quarter earnings.

Both the equity benchmark indices snapped a two-weeks of gaining streak and closed 1% down each this week. This can be attributed to a decline in the counters of financial heavyweights. However, the midcap index outperformed the main indices with almost 1% gains this week.

According to exchange data, on Thursday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth ₹1,481.19 crore on a net basis, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased ₹1,333.06 crore worth of equities.

Globally, most of the Asian shares struggled on Friday and closed with losses after Trump’s trade deal announcements.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng settled 0.48% down at the 23,954.05 level, while the Shanghai Composite ended at the 3,481.49 level, rising 0.58%.

South Korea’s Kospi also closed 2.04% lower at 3,053.90 levels. However, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 0.05% to end at 39,804.41 levels.

Stocks on Wall Street closed at a record high as the US job report cheered the investors on Thursday.

The S&P 500 climbed 51.94 points, or 0.83%, to end at 6,279.36, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 207.97 points, or 1.02%, to settle at 20,601.10. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 344.11 points, or 0.77%, to close at 44,828.53.

As many as 3,020 stocks traded on the NSE on Friday. Out of this, 1,578 advanced and 1,347 stocks declined, while 95 scrips remained unchanged.

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

A total of 59 stocks hit their 52-week highs, while 35 stocks touched their one-year lows. Besides, 101 stocks hit their upper circuit limits, and 45 touched their lower circuit bands on Friday.

NSE-listed firms' market capitalisation stood at ₹459.16 lakh crore at the end of the session.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, stood at 12.32 levels, declining 0.56%.

The broader market ended the session mixed, with the Nifty Smallcap 100 index rising marginally by 0.03% to end at 19,033.05 levels, while the Nifty Midcap 100 index closed almost flat at 59,677.75 levels.

Except for Nifty Metal (-0.45%) and Nifty Auto (-0.10%), all the other sectoral gauges ended in green on Friday.

Among winners, Nifty Oil and Gas took the lead with 1.05% gains, followed by Nifty Realty (0.91%), Nifty Pharma (0.81%), Nifty IT (0.80%), and Nifty Media (0.66%).

Bajaj Finance was the most contributing scrip, surging 1.74%. Dr. Reddy’s (1.45%), Infosys (1.3%), Hindustan Unilever (1.21%), and ICICI Bank (1.2%) were the other top gainers.

On the flip side, Trent was the biggest laggard, tumbling 11.37% after its management commentary on Q1 business updates. Tata Steel (-1.69%), Eicher Motors (-1.58%), IndusInd Bank (-0.92%), and Maruti Suzuki (-0.82%) were also the losers on the 50-share index.