The Fine Print Beat the Policy — The RBI Held the Repo at 5.25% and the Nifty Moved Nine Points, Then an Unscheduled Draft NBFC Circular Took 5.84% Off Bajaj Finance; Nifty +0.77% to 24,571, Sensex +0.52% to 78,499 as a US Jobs Shock Sent Gold, Silver and the Nasdaq Flying

This was a week in which the event everyone had circled in their diary changed nothing, and one almost nobody was watching changed a great deal. The Nifty 50 rose 0.77% to 24,570.65 (+187.05 points from 24,383.60) and the Sensex 0.52% to 78,499.17 (+404.53 points) — a second consecutive up week, and a modest one. The shape mattered more than the total: Monday alone delivered more than double the week’s gain, as Brent fell over 8% to about $82.84 on news of renewed US–Iran talks, lifting the Nifty 390.70 points (+1.60%) to 24,774.30 with the Nifty IT index up 3.28% to 31,715 and Bank Nifty up 1.72% to 58,247.95. From that high the index drifted for four sessions to close 204 points below it. On Wednesday 5 August the Monetary Policy Committee held the repo rate at 5.25% with a neutral stance, exactly as expected, Governor Sanjay Malhotra wanting greater clarity on inflation before acting — and the Nifty moved 9.75 points on the day. Then on Thursday the same regulator published draft amendments to the RBI (NBFC) Directions, 2025, proposing that non-banking financial companies offer only term loans and discontinue revolving credit products, with feedback open until 28 August. Bajaj Finance fell 5.84% on Friday, Bajaj Finserv 3.70% and ICICI Bank 2.50%, while TCS (+3.36%), Grasim (+3.20%) and Hindalco (+3.17%) absorbed the money that left them. Globally the story was bigger: US employers cut 23,000 jobs in July and unemployment rose to 4.1%, and on that bad news the S&P 500 closed at a record 7,757.64 (+3.6% on the week), the Nasdaq gained 5.2% to 26,690.62, gold rose about 6.6% into the $4,350–4,410 region (its best week since January) and silver surged roughly 11.6% past $64. India, which beat the US over both the week and the month a fortnight ago, captured a fraction of this one — which is what a genuinely diversified portfolio looks like from the inside. India VIX closed at 12.15, the rupee was quiet near ₹95.20, Brent ended near $82 (about 7% lower on the week) and bitcoin near $64,940. NSDL finalised July FPI equity inflows at ₹20,199 Cr, the first positive month after four of selling. The quietest news mattered most to fund investors: India’s Closing Auction Session went live on 3 August, so the closing price of every F&O-eligible stock — and therefore the number your NAV is struck at — now comes from a 20-minute auction beginning at 3:15 PM rather than the last half-hour of continuous trading. Your SIP date, NAV cut-off timings and holdings are all unchanged. (Figures are as of the Friday 7 August close; items that could not be independently cross-verified are stated approximately or omitted.)