Nifty extends gains for second straight session on Thursday

Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty ended higher for second straight session on Thursday. Index made a positive start as investors' sentiments improved following the easing of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East after the US and Iran concluded talks in Doha. Soon, index extended gains and continued its firm trade till the end of the session. Sentiments remained upbeat as India and Japan have unveiled a raft of initiatives, including an economic partnership framework and a defence pact to co-develop military hardware following talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Sanae Takaichi. Further, fall in crude oil prices and sharp buying in IT stocks lifted trading sentiments. Finally, Nifty ended higher with gains of 0.71%.

Most of the sectorial indices ended in green except PSU Bank stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Exide Industries, Sona BLW Precision Forgings and Persistent Systems. On the other hand, the top losers were Bank of Baroda, Avenue Supermarts and Bharat Heavy Electricals. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 24900 - 25100 calls and 23900 - 24100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short-term expectation of volatility decreased by 7.21% and reached 12.29. The 50 share Nifty up by 169.85 point or 0.71% to settle at 24,175.70.

Nifty July 2026 futures closed at 24270.10 (LTP) on Thursday, at a premium of 94.40 points over spot closing of 24175.70, while Nifty August 2026 futures ended at 24355.10 (LTP), at a premium of 179.40 points over spot closing. Nifty July futures saw a contraction of 5,085 units, taking the total outstanding open interest (Contracts) to 2,70,247 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on July 28, 2026. (Provisional) 

From the most active contracts, Infosys July 2026 futures traded at a premium of 3.40 points at 1046.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1042.60. The numbers of contracts traded were 53,787. (Provisional) 

TCS July 2026 futures traded at a discount of 1.30 points at 2069.60 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2070.90. The numbers of contracts traded were 33,241. (Provisional) 

HDFC Bank July 2026 futures traded at a premium of