Market opening: Indices open in green but slip later, NIFTY50 at 25,865, SENSEX flat; ONGC up 2%, Adani Enterprises top loser

The Indian equity benchmark indices snapped a four-day losing streak to open higher on Friday, January 9, tracking positive cues from Asian peers and led by gains in IT and PSU bank stocks. However, the markets soon lost momentum and were trading flat down.

The broader market was seen mixed in early deals but also declined later. The Nifty Midcap 100 was down 0.62%, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 fell 1.08%.

Among sectors, Nifty IT took the lead among gainers, rising 0.48%, followed by Nifty Oil & Gas (0.46%) and Nifty PSU Bank (0.4%). On the contrary, Nifty Media (-0.88%), Nifty Realty (-0.52%), and Nifty Pharma (-0.32%) slipped the most.

According to exchange data, on Thursday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹3,367.12 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹3,701.17 crore on a net basis.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading higher on Friday, tracking as Japan's Nikkei advanced 1.14%, China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.3%, South Korea's KOSPI gained 0.52% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.02%.

On Wall Street, the US benchmark indices ended mixed on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.55%, the S&P 500 gaining 0.01%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq slipping 0.44%.

As many as 2,700 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 560 advanced, 2,072 declined, and 68 shares remained unchanged.

This indicates that the market's breadth is in favour of declines.

Meanwhile, 14 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 156 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 22 stocks hit their upper circuits, while 34 hit their lower circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading at 10.72 levels, rising 1.15%.

As many as 24 stocks advanced, while 25 were trading lower and one remained unchanged in the opening session on the NIFTY50 index.

ONGC was the most contributing stock, rising 1.94%, followed by Asian Paints (1.41%), Eternal (1.22%), Bharat Electronics (1.19%) and Power Grid (1.08%).

On the flip side, Adani Enterprises (-1.17%), Adani Ports (-1.14%), ICICI Bank (-1.07%), Shriram Finance (-0.88%) and NTPC (-0.8%) were the biggest laggards on the 50-share index.