Post Market Analysis | 24 July, 2026

Markets started the day under heavy pressure as weak global cues and fresh concerns over the Middle East conflict led to a sharp gap-down opening. The interesting part was what happened after the opening. Buyers stepped in near the day's low and helped Nifty recover a large part of the losses. Although the index still closed in the red, the recovery showed that selling pressure reduced as the session progressed. Bank Nifty stood out today. After opening weak along with the broader market, it recovered steadily and managed to close slightly in the green. That strength helped limit the overall weakness in the benchmark indices. The broader market also held up better than expected. Midcap and Smallcap indices ended only marginally lower, while advancing stocks slightly outnumbered declining stocks by the close. This suggests buying interest returned once the initial panic selling cooled down. Sector-wise, IT and Media outperformed. IT stocks remained firm as the weaker rupee is expected to support export-oriented companies. On the other hand, Auto and Transportation stocks continued to face pressure because higher crude oil prices remain a concern for companies with higher fuel costs. One positive development after market hours was that Brent crude fell more than 3% to around $97.5 per barrel following reports of fresh diplomatic efforts to ease tensions in the Middle East. Even after this decline, crude prices are still trading at elevated levels, so they remain an important factor to watch. Meanwhile, the rupee stayed weak near 96.6 against the US dollar. Overall, today's session showed that buyers are still willing to step in whenever the market sees a sharp fall. The recovery from the day's low was encouraging, but Nifty still needs to move past the recent selling zone for the momentum to improve further.