Stock Market Today, July 15, 2026: Markets Bounce Back, Tracking Firm Wall Street, Asia; Sensex Jumps 565 points, Nifty Up 156 points at Open

Mumbai, July 15: Indian stock benchmarks recovered strongly on Wednesday, recovering most of Tuesday’s sharp losses as positive cues from global markets offset concerns over escalating tensions in the Middle East. 

The BSE Sensex advanced 565.29 points or 0.73 per cent to 77,620.23 and the NSE Nifty 50 index rose 156.65 points or 0.65 per cent to 24,208.70 in early deals, taking the index back above the 24,200 handle it had breached during the previous session. 

Top Gainers and Losers 

Top gainers on the Nifty 50 were Shriram Finance (+2.93 per cent to Rs 1,043.60 from the previous close of Rs 1,013.90), Bajaj Finance (+2.41 per cent to Rs 1,030.90 from Rs 1,006.60), Axis Bank (+1.97 per cent to Rs 1,343.60 from Rs 1,317.60), HDFC Life (+1.87 per cent to Rs 565.60 from Rs 555.20) and IndiGo (+1.76 per cent to Rs 5,198 from Rs 5,108). 

Top losers on the Nifty 50 were Hindalco (-0.91 per cent to Rs 965.45 from the previous close of Rs 974.30), Infosys (-0.67 per cent to Rs 1,085.60 against Rs 1,092.90), Wipro (-0.49 per cent to Rs 176.28 from Rs 177.14), Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (-0.48 per cent to Rs 1,240.20 against a previous close of Rs 1,246.20) and Power Grid Corporation (-0.40 per cent to Rs 285 from Rs 286.15). 

Broad Market 

Broad markets were completely in the green in early trade with no signs of yesterday’s panic sell-off: breadth was flat with both the Nifty Smallcap 100 and Nifty Microcap 250 leading with gains of 0.78 per cent each while the Nifty Midcap Select added 0.69 per cent, indicating this was not a large-cap only recovery. 

Sectorally, Nifty Financial Services Ex-Bank index surged 1.24 per cent, Nifty Financial Services index jumped 1.15 per cent and Nifty Chemicals index advanced 1.09 per cent continuing with the financials led theme that has been seen in action through the week. Only IT (-0.38 per cent), Media (-0.31 per cent) and Metal (-0.16 per cent) were weaker as fears of slowing global growth and a stronger rupee weighed on export-oriented and commodity-linked stocks. 

Asian Markets 

Asian markets continued their strong performance into Wednesday, tracking Tuesday’s positive close on Wall Street. Japanese benchmark Nikkei 225 led gains in the region with 0.90 per cent advance while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.68 per cent and Malaysia’s FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI jumped 1.12 per cent. Pakistan’s KSE 100 bucked the regional trend tumbling more than 3.5 per cent while the rest of regional markets stayed in the green. 

US Markets 

Wall Street finished higher on Tuesday with Nasdaq Composite (+0.90 per cent) outperforming the S& P 500 (+0.38 per cent) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.05 per cent) as all three benchmarks shrugged off fresh spikes in crude oil prices that came amid heightened tensions in the Middle East. Crude extended its recent gains on Wednesday morning as tensions continue to simmer. 

Middle East Conflict 

US-Iran tensions escalated further on Tuesday after a brief truce in June came unstuck. President Donald Trump announced fresh naval blockade of Iranian ports on Tuesday evening and threatened next week’s attacks on Iranian power plants and bridges if Tehran failed to resume talks. Meanwhile, fresh US airstrikes targeted Iran’s capability to attack shipping in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday while Iran struck back with drone attacks and missiles at US and allied military bases in Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait while attacking two tankers in the strait on Monday. Iran on Wednesday morning again closed Strait of Hormuz, the shipping lane once used to transport nearly a fifth of global oil and gas shipments, keeping the risk of supply disruptions alive. 

Oil Prices 

Oil prices advanced for a second straight day on Wednesday as both Brent crude oil futures and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures gained in early trade Asia following through on gains seen on Tuesday when both benchmarks closed at their highest levels in over a month. Brent crude futures were trading 1.72 per cent higher at $86.19 per barrel while WTI crude futures rose 1.4 per cent to $80.40 per barrel in early Asian trade. Global benchmark Brent crude closed at its highest since May 30 on Tuesday after Trump ordered fresh blockade of Iranian ports while US forces carried out fresh airstrikes against Iran on Monday night keeping supply disruption fears alive. 

For India, which imports over 80 per cent of its crude requirements, sustained higher oil prices is likely to remain the biggest risk to both the inflation outlook as well as the rupee going forward even as domestic stock markets continue to hold up well. 

Indian Markets at Tuesday’s Close 

Indian benchmark indices ended sharply lower on Tuesday led by the Sensex, which declined 561.46 points or 0.72 per cent to close at 77,054.94 while the Nifty 50 fell 158.95 points or 0.66 per cent to settle at 24,052.05 snapping below the 24,100 handle. Indices fell across the board tracking a combination of sharply higher crude oil prices, geopolitical tensions triggered by the US-Iran standoff and weak cues from global markets leading to broad-based selling across sectors. Investors continued to fret that higher oil prices could add to inflationary pressures and hurt corporate earnings during the ongoing June- quarter result season. Market breadth was negative with 2,632 stocks declining on the BSE versus 1,422 advancing and 190 finishing unchanged. 

Commenting on the bounce back on Wednesday, traders said Asian markets are seeing strong advances on Wednesday tracking a firm handoff from Wall Street where all three major US indices ended in the green on Tuesday despite fresh jumps in crude oil prices that have now extended their recent uptrend. This optimism has spilled over into Asian markets where most regional benchmarks are trading well into the green providing some solace to domestic investors weary from Tuesday’s panic selling who are choosing to buy into yesterday’s sharp fall instead of dumping more shares. Gains are being seen across the board with banking, financial services and consumption counters seeing strong buying leading some to believe that markets are shaking off yesterday’s fall and are unlikely to take it as the start of a deeper correction. 

A key factor for markets this week will be June quarter earnings with many large corporates set to announce their results over the coming sessions. 

Sources:

• bseindia.com
• nseindia.com