Market opening: Indices open higher, NIFTY50 at 26,161, SENSEX rises 139 pts; Eternal, IndiGo top gainers

The Indian stock market kicked off the first trading session of the year on a positive note on Thursday, January 1, led by gains in IT and auto stocks.

Meanwhile, despite opening positive, the broader market lost momentum soon. The Nifty Midcap 100 and the Nifty Smallcap 100 were trading 0.08% and 0.21% lower, respectively.

Among sectors, Nifty Media took the lead among gainers, rising 0.95%, followed by Nifty IT (0.32%) and Nifty Auto (0.29%). On the other hand, Nifty FMCG (-1.38%), Nifty Pharma (-0.48%) and Nifty PSU Bank (-0.18%) were the top losing sectors in the opening session.

Further, shares of cigarette, tobacco, pan masala, and similar product manufacturers were on investors’ radar on Thursday as the government announced February 1 as the date from which additional excise duty will be levied on tobacco products and a new cess on pan masala.

Shares of Godfrey Phillips declined as much as 4.17% to the low of ₹2,647.10 apiece on the NSE, while ITC slipped as much as 2.3% to the low of ₹393.45 on the NSE.

According to exchange data, on Wednesday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹3,597.38 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹6,759.64 crore on a net basis.

Globally, Asian markets remained closed on account of New Year's. On Wall Street, US shares ended lower on the last trading session of 2025. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.63%, the S&P 500 declined 0.74%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 0.76%.

As many as 2,625 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 1,433 advanced, 1,123 declined, and 69 shares remained unchanged.

This indicates that the market's breadth is favourable towards advances.

Meanwhile, 37 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 19 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 27 stocks hit their upper circuits, while 26 hit their lower circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading at 9.30 levels, falling 1.84%.

As many as 32 stocks advanced, while 18 declined in the opening session on the NIFTY50 index.

Eternal was the most contributing stock, gaining 1.49%, followed by IndiGo (1.33%), Wipro (1.14%), Reliance Industries (1.13%) and Mahindra & Mahindra (1.08%).

On the flip side, ITC (-4.02%), Dr. Reddy’s (-1.18%), Cipla (-0.49%), Bharat Electronics (-0.36%) and Trent (-0.33%) were the top laggards on the 50-share index.