Markets inch higher in opening session; later turn flat amid volatile trends
The 30-share BSE Sensex went up by 67.34 points to 83,306.81 in opening trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty inched higher by 23.55 points to 25,428.85.
Later, both the key indices faced volatile trends and were trading flat. The BSE benchmark quoted 13.55 points down at 83,221.65, and the Nifty traded 4.15 points lower at 25,400.40.
From the Sensex firms, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Bharat Electronics, Hindustan Unilever, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the major gainers.
However, Trent, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra and Maruti were among the laggards.
In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 index and Shanghai's SSE Composite index were trading higher while South Korea's Kospi and Hong Kong's Hang Seng quoted lower.
The US markets ended in the positive territory on Thursday (July 3, 2025).
Global oil benchmark Brent crude dropped 0.42% to $68.51 a barrel.
"There are no triggers to break the 25,200-25,800 Nifty range immediately. Even while trading within this range the market is resilient. This resilience is supported externally by the strength of the mother market U.S. where S&P 500 and Nasdaq are at record highs and domestically by the strong and sustained flows into the market, which has made DIIs (Domestic Institutional Investors) sustained buyers in the market," VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments, said.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹1,481.19 crore on Thursday (July 3, 2025), according to exchange data. DIIs bought stocks worth ₹1,333.06 crore.
"Yesterday saw volatile market activity, starting strong but tumbling late, notably with Nifty closing on an uncertain note. Today, US markets will be closed for Independence Day. Wall Street reacted positively to better-than-expected job reports, boosting US stocks. Nifty is poised to follow this bullish trend, potentially influenced by India's upcoming trade deal with the US," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.
On Thursday, the Sensex dropped by 170.22 points or 0.20 per cent to settle at 83,239.47. The Nifty declined by 48.10 points or 0.19 per cent to 25,405.30.
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Sebi's case relies on patterns and price impact rather than direct evidence of deception, which could face scrutiny. This matter could set an important precedent for how Indian law treats complex algorithmic strategies in the derivatives market," said Sumit Agrawal, founder of Regstreet Law Advisors and a former Sebi official. Agarwal added that if contested, Jane Street could plausibly argue that its trades were part of legitimate algorithmic strategies used for hedging and liquidity provision, not manipulation. 'The trades were executed transparently through the exchange and may have caused market impact due to scale, but impact alone isn't unlawful under Indian securities law", he said. Major reset Jayesh H., co-founder of Juris Corp, added, 'While it can appear as one-off, that would be a mistake. If the preliminary assessment turns out to be correct, then there needs to be a major reset and on all sides... Going back in time, the recommendations of L.C. Gupta should be remembered… small retail investors [were] to be kept out." A Sebi official said on the condition of anonymity that the interim order is not a show cause notice, and it clearly indicates that investigations into Jane Street will continue. "This interim order has only looked at the 18 major days of prima facie Bank Nifty index manipulation on expiry day… Investigations into other expiry days, other indices (including across exchanges), and other potential patterns besides the two highlighted in the order will need to continue." There should not be any major market impact from this enforcement action, the official added. "In any case, delta-based (future equivalent) limits are now in place in index options to curtail excessive risk taking without impacting regular participants." Enforcement Better enforcement of existing regulations can pave the way for optimal regulation, the official said. 'On the flip side, more regulations cannot make up for poor enforcement. We will continue to monitor Indian F&O markets." The order, authored by Sebi whole-time member Ananth Narayan G, mandated Jane Street to close all open derivative options in three months. Exchanges have been asked to supervise the group's trading, which will commence after it deposits alleged illegal gains. Market experts appear to have mixed views on the implications of the Sebi action on the US trading firm. 'You've got to hand it to Sebi for going after Jane Street. If the allegations are true, it's blatant market manipulation," said Zerodha founder Nithin Kamath on X. He added, though, that prop trading firms like Jane Street accounted for nearly 50% of options trading volumes, and if they pulled back—which seems likely—retail activity of around 35% could take a hit. 'So this could be bad news for both exchanges and brokers," Kamath said. Higher volumes? However, a UAE-based trader active in Indian markets countered this view, saying volumes could actually rise. 'The impact of the Sebi clampdown on Jane Street's manipulation will only lead to an increase in volumes," said Mayank Bansal, president at a UAE-based hedge fund. 'Many traders stayed out of the Indian markets over the past 12 months, knowing that markets were being rigged massively by Jane Street on expiry day. Now that Jane Street has been barred… the volumes… will actually increase as traders staying out will come back in again."Jane Street is largely a market maker in other markets where it operates. Here, instead of providing two-way liquidity, it was taking large directional exposure via options, and then manipulating the underlying to benefit from them. NSE's premium turnover in index options—a key metric for active trading—averaged ₹47,836 crore per day in Q1 FY26. That's down 24% year-on-year from ₹63,208 crore, but up 10% from the previous quarter. The year-on-year fall is attributed to Sebi's tighter rules introduced late last year, which increased the cost to trade and limited weekly option expiries to one per exchange. BSE holds a little over 20% share of the options market.
