Indian equity benchmarks opened on a cautious but slightly positive note on Friday, with NIFTY 50 rising 35.45 points (0.15%) to 23,690.15 from its previous close of 23,654.70. Sensex opened at 75,260.39 and climbed to 75,318.38, gaining 135.02 points (0.18%) over its previous close of 75,183.36. According to The Hindu BusinessLine, GIFT Nifty had signalled a firm start, trading around 23,669 — up 153 points ahead of the session, driven by positive sentiment across Asian equities and easing geopolitical concerns. This follows Thursday's session where NIFTY closed at 23,654.70, down just 4.30 points, after the index had opened with a gap-up at 23,830.05 and hit an intraday high of 23,859.90 before reversing sharply.
Among the top gainers on the NIFTY 50 in early trade, SBI Life Insurance led with a 0.84% rise to ₹1,875.50, followed by Tata Motors (TMPV) at ₹364.30, up 0.82%. Maruti Suzuki gained 0.75% to ₹13,108, while Larsen & Toubro added 0.70% to trade at ₹3,917.80. UltraTech Cement rounded out the top five gainers, rising 0.65% to ₹11,549. On the losing side, Max Healthcare was the sharpest decliner, falling 4.24% to ₹1,044.80 on heavy volumes of over 7.45 lakh shares. ITC dropped 1.51% to ₹303.40, while Infosys slipped 0.58% to ₹1,174.40. Tech Mahindra fell 0.58% to ₹1,411.70 and Power Grid Corporation was down 0.52% at ₹298.
Asian markets were trading higher as US-Iran talks boosted sentiment for equities. As reported by CNBC-TV18, Japan's Nikkei surged 2.2%, China's Shanghai Composite advanced 0.3%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 0.8% and South Korea's KOSPI gained 0.2%. Investor sentiment stayed positive for a second straight day on hopes that diplomatic progress could stabilise energy supplies after weeks of turbulence from the Middle East conflict, even as crude prices ticked higher on the day, according to news agency AFP. The latest reports confirm that Nikkei was up more than 2% while Hang Seng and KOSPI inched up marginally. Japan's inflation cooled to a four-year low, while China continued to expand solar exports and attract hedge fund interest in AI themes. Samsung's labor agreement in South Korea also eased concerns over potential production disruptions.
Foreign institutional investors (FII) remained net sellers on Thursday, offloading equities worth ₹1,891 crore, while domestic institutional investors absorbed the pressure with net purchases of ₹2,492 crore. As per The Hindu BusinessLine, Dr. VK Vijayakumar of Geojit Investments noted that FII selling continues to weigh on large-caps despite their relatively cheaper valuations. "Momentum is in SMIDs even though safety is in largecaps. This dichotomy will persist till FIIs turn buyers in India," he said, adding that retail traders need to handle the prevailing buy-on-dips and sell-on-rallies trend carefully. FIIs have so far this year sold shares worth ₹2,20,552 crore, data from National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) showed. Small and mid-cap stocks continued to see brisk activity, with companies reporting strong results drawing positive market response.
The market faces resistance near 23,850/76,000 levels and has reversed from these zones, with the short-term texture of the market being non-directional and range-bound activity likely to continue. According to Kotak Securities, on the downside, 23,500-23,400/75,000-74,500 remain the crucial support zones, while 23,800-23,850/75,800-76,000 could act as key resistance areas for the bulls. On the positive side, a breakout above 23,850/76,000 could push the market up to 23,950-24,000/76,300-76,500, while below 23,400/74,500, it could retest the levels of 23,250-23,200/74,000-73,800. Hitesh Tailor of Choice Equity Broking noted that call writing concentrated at the 23,700–23,800 strikes and put writing at 23,600–23,500, suggesting the market is sandwiched in a narrow band. Gaurav Udani of ThinCredBlu Securities summed up the near-term view: "A breakout on either side is likely to decide the next trend, while until then, the market may continue to witness range-bound and volatile moves."
