Indian equities concluded Monday’s trading session (July 21) on a positive note, with strong gains in banking heavyweights including HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, along with a rally in select auto stocks, helping the Nifty 50 reclaim the 25,000 mark. The index ended at 25,079 points, up 0.44% from Friday’s closing level.
The gains could have been higher if Reliance Industries, the largest heavyweight among Nifty constituents, had not crashed nearly 4%, following its June quarter performance.
Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex ended the session at 82,194, rising 0.53% over the previous close. Broader markets were mixed, with the Nifty Midcap 100 index climbing 0.60%, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 index slipped marginally by 0.06%.
Among individual stocks, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank ended with gains of up to 2.9% as investors reacted positively to their June quarter results, which were released over the weekend.
Looking at other developments, the potential mini trade deal between India and the US is expected to be finalized soon. US President Donald Trump recently said that a deal with India was “very close,” ahead of the August 1 deadline, when duties on most US imports are set to rise again.
Recent reports also suggest that India and the UK are likely to seal a long-awaited free trade agreement this week, which could grant Indian textiles and electric vehicles duty-free access to the UK market while easing the entry of British whisky, cars, and food exports into India.
Meanwhile, overseas investors continue to pull funds from Indian exchanges. So far in July, they have sold Indian stocks worth ₹10,775 crore, although they remain invested in the primary markets—an indication that they see stock valuations in the secondary market as stretched.
Stocks that outperformed the Indian stock market today
As the Indian stock market received a strong boost from robust banking earnings, over a dozen stocks ended the session with gains of more than 5%, with Mastek leading the pack. Mastek surged 7% to ₹2,669 apiece after the company reported a 29% year-on-year jump in Q1 PAT, while revenue rose 13%.
Eternal (formerly Zomato) shares closed with a solid 6% gain after the company posted a 70% YoY increase in revenue and a net profit of ₹25 crore, compared to a loss of ₹250 crore in the same period last year. The Street appeared particularly encouraged by the strong performance of its quick-commerce division, which reported revenue of ₹2,400 crore—up from ₹942 crore a year ago.
Jyoti CNC Automation also ended the session with a healthy 5.4% gain, closing at ₹1,075 apiece. Persistent Systems, another mid-cap IT stock, rose 4.2%, marking its biggest intraday jump in the last two months.
Other notable gainers included Apar Industries, UPL, ACME Solar Holdings, Lloyds Metals, MMTC, NALCO, L&T Finance Holdings, ABB India, GE T&D India, Tata Investment, Jindal Stainless, BSE, and Tanla Platforms. In total, more than 60 stocks among the Nifty 5800 universe ended with gains of over 1.5%.
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