Sensex down 600 points from day's high, Nifty at 25,400 on weekly expiry; PSU banks lag

PSU banks were the top sectoral laggard in trade on July 3.

Dalal Street saw a choppy session of trade on Thursday, July 3, with the benchmark indices Nifty 50 and Sensex shuffling between gains and losses to ultimately with mild cuts.

After holding above 25,500, the Nifty index gave up its gains to slip more than 100 points from the day's high to tests 25,400 on the weekly F&O expiry. the 30-share Sensex sank 600 points its intraday high.

At close, the Sensex was down 170.22 points or 0.20 percent at 83,239.47, and the Nifty was down 48.10 points or 0.19 percent at 25,405.30. About 1878 shares advanced, 1885 shares declined, and 135 shares unchanged.

On the sectoral front, gains were seen in Nifty Auto (up 0.5 percent), Pharma (up 0.3 percent), and Media (up 0.8 percent), with the media index emerging as the top performer of the day. Meanwhile, Nifty IT was nearly flat with a marginal dip of 0.02 percent.

On the downside, PSU Bank fell the most, slipping 0.9 percent as investors booked profits, followed by Metal and Realty, which lost 0.7, respectively. Other laggards included FMCG and Energy, both trading slightly lower.

The broader markets were mixed. The midcap gauge was trading at the flatline, but the smallcap index was higher by around 0.2 percent.

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Healthcare player Max Healthcare and Indigo-parent InterGlobe Aviation may be included in the benchmark Nifty 50 index during the next review, said Nuvama Alternative & Quantitative Research. On the flip side, beleaguered lender IndusInd Bank and auto player Hero MotoCorp might be deleted from the index.

"After breaking the 24,500-25,000 range, Nifty has moved to the new range of 25,200-25,800. Positive news about a possible trade deal between India and US can help break the upper limit of the range but it would be difficult to sustain the Nifty at higher levels for long. There are no indications yet of a strong rebound in earning," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments.

In the derivatives segment, sentiment has shifted slightly, with call writers asserting dominance at higher levels—suggesting growing supply pressure. Meanwhile, put writers have begun trimming their positions at current strikes, signaling expectations of a potential sideways to mildly corrective phase.

"The 25,600 strike continues to hold the highest call open interest, with 1.73 crore contracts, making it a critical resistance point in the near term. On the support side, the 25,000 put strike has amassed a significant open interest of 1.06 crore contracts, underlining its importance as a strong base," said Dhupesh Dhameja, Derivatives Analyst, SAMCO Securities.

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