However, the final trading day of the month promises to be anything but a boring one. There are plenty of triggers that lie for the markets to react. The one stock that will be in the spotlight, yet again, will be HDFC Bank, after Sashidhar Jagadishan’s decision to not seek reappointment after his term ends in October.
Whether the market perceives this as a “emergence of clarity” move, or views this as yet another overhang until a new CEO is named, will determine which way the Nifty could move in the session. This has become another factor to keep India’s largest private lender in the spotlight in what has been a very forgettable year for them and the stock as well.
While the Nifty has remained in snooze mode, the real action has been coming in the broader markets. 13 stocks on the BSE Smallcap Index gained 20% or more last week, and another 58 stocks gained between 10% to 20%. 10 stocks on the Nifty 500 also saw gains between 10% to 25% last week. 29 stocks on the BSE Smallcap index also hit all-time high levels on Friday.
The other real action has come from the primary markets, whether it be subscriptions or the listing premiums of these companies. A total of 14 companies made their stock market debut in the month of August, and the average listing premium of these companies has been over 30%.
In fact, Tempsens Instruments, which made its debut on Friday, listed at a 111% premium to its issue price, which became the first IPO of 2026 to double from its issue price, surpassing Bharat Coking Coal’s debut, which happened at a 96% premium at the start of the year.
The Nifty did make an attempt to cross the 24,400 mark last week, making last week’s high of 24,378 an important level to watch. Levels sub-24,100, which are 24,077 (Friday’s intraday low) and 24,090 (Thursday’s intraday low), will be important support levels to watch during Monday’s trading session.
Rupak De of LKP Securities said that the trend on the Nifty is far from bullish looking at the recent price action. He expects immediate resistance around the 24,200 mark and moves below that will keep sentiments weak and keep the door open for a possible decline towards 23,900. In case the index does not sustain 23,900, it could lead to a further correction. on the flip side, sustaining above 24,200 may strengthen the near-term trend, he added.”The underlying trend of Nifty remains range bound (24,400- 24,000) with positive bias. Any sustainable bounce back from near the lower range could open a sizable bounce towards 24,300 – 24400 levels in the near term. Important supports for trend reversal is placed at 24,000,” Nagaraj Shetti of HDFC Securities said.
In comparison to the Nifty, the Nifty Bank has had a fairly okayish month, rising just over 200 points compared to where it found itself on July 31. However, similar to the Nifty, the banking index too has failed to breakout from its range and continues to remain stuck in the 57,000 – 57,500 – 57,800 – 58,000 band.
“The immediate support is placed at 57,200, followed by 57,100, marking the recent range low. On the upside, 57,800 remains the key resistance, followed by 57,900. A sustained close above this zone would revive the bullish setup, while a break below support could extend the weekly pullback,” Om Mehra of SAMCO Securities said.
Sudeep Shah of SBI Securities said that 57,000 – 56,900 levels can act as a strong support area for the Nifty bank and a sustained hold above that region could maintain the ongoing consolidation phase. On the upside, 57,900 – 58,000 level will act as an immediate resistance. “A decisive breakout above 58,000 or a breakdown below 57,000 could signal the end of the current consolidation phase and trigger a meaningful trending move in the respective direction,” he said.
