Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended lower on Thursday. Index made a flat-to-positive start followed by mostly positive cues from other Asian markets. Also, some optimism came after Donald Trump signaled that a new trade deal could be inked soon with India. Trump’s comments come at a time when India's commerce ministry officials are in Washington DC for another round of trade talks. Soon, index turned volatile and slipped below neutral line. Market participants avoided risky bids ahead of weekly F&O expiry. However, downside remained capped as traders took note of Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) latest report stating that outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) by domestic firms has seen a jump of 73.77% to $5,030.48 million in June 2025 as against $2,894.90 million in June 2024. In May 2025, it stood at $2,702.92 million. In afternoon session, index continued its choppy trade for most part of the session. In last leg of the trade, index extended its losses and ended the session at day’s low level.

Traders were seen piling up positions in Realty, Metal and Consumer Durables stocks, while selling was witnessed in IT, PSU Bank and Private Bank. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Sona BLW Precision Forgings, Prestige Estates Projects, and Balkrishna Industries. On the other hand, the top losers were Bharat Dynamics, LTIMindtree and Tech Mahindra. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 25400 - 25600 calls and 24900 - 25100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short-term expectation of volatility increased by 0.02% and reached 11.24. The 50 share Nifty down by 100.60 point or 0.40% to settle at 25,111.45.

Nifty July 2025 futures closed at 25170.50 (LTP) on Thursday, at a premium of 59.05 points over spot closing of 25111.45, while Nifty August 2025 futures ended at 25265.00 (LTP), at a premium of 153.55 points over spot closing. Nifty July futures saw an additional of 4,814 units, taking the total open interest (Contracts) to 1,87,907 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on July 31, 2025. (Provisional)

From the most active contracts, State Bank of India July 2025 futures traded at a premium of 3.25 points at 832.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 828.75. The numbers of contracts traded were 59,514. (Provisional)

Sona BLW Precision Forgings July 2025 futures traded at a premium of 2.10 points at 486.80 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 484.70. The numbers of contracts traded were 29,798. (Provisional)

Infosys July 2025 futures traded at a premium of 6.30 points at 1587.30 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1581.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 25,967. (Provisional)

ABB India July 2025 futures traded at a premium of 16.00 points at 5650.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 5634.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 23,416. (Provisional)

Patanjali Foods July 2025 futures traded at a premium of 6.70 points at 1897.70 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1891.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 21,908. (Provisional)

Among, Nifty calls, 25500 SP from the July month expiry was the most active call with an additional of 3,419 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 25000 SP from the July month expiry was the most active put with an additional of 210 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 25500 SP (72,280 units) and that for Puts was at 25000 SP (78,202 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 25199.53 -- Pivot Point 25150.27 -- Support 25062.18.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.00) for July month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on One97 Communications (1.19), Laurus Labs (1.11), Blue Star (1.11), Vedanta (1.01) and Tata Elxsi (0.99).

Among most active underlying State Bank of India witnessed an additional of 8,582 units of Open Interest in the July month future, HDFC Bank witnessed an additional of 5,912 units of Open Interest in the July month future, RBL Bank witnessed an additional of 3,086 units of Open Interest in the July month futures, Reliance Industries witnessed an additional of 9,782 units of Open Interest in the July month futures and Tech Mahindra witnessed an additional of 3,680 units of Open Interest in the July month futures. (Provisional).