The biggest expiry of the half-year was supposed to lock the market onto 24,000. It didn't. The index touched it, lost it, and drifted down to settle at 23,865 — while underneath the headline, more stocks rose than fell. Day 1 of the July series opens caught between a broken-down 24,000 — now resistance — and a 23,800 support that held, with the damage concentrated in one wounded sector: IT, now at a 3-year low. And it opens on a gap-up: GIFT Nifty is pointing straight back to 24,000 after US technology rallied overnight, so the day's first question is whether we reclaim the very level that just broke.

In this episode:

- Why the index closed red while the mid and small caps closed green

- The one sector that dragged a cap-weighted index lower on a positive-breadth day

- Foreign desks selling, domestic desks buying  ...