Market opening: NIFTY50 above 25,900 mark, SENSEX jumps 440 pts on positive global cues; Tata Motors PV, BEL top gainers

The Indian equity market opened in the green for a second straight session on Friday, December 19, supported by positive global cues and a rally in pharma stocks, while foreign fund inflows further lifted investor sentiment.

The broader market was trading higher in early deals, with the Nifty Midcap 100 marginally gaining 0.51% and the Nifty Smallcap 100 advancing 0.57%.

All the sectoral gauges were trading with gains with Nifty Pharma taking the lead, climbing 1.33% followed by Nifty Realty (0.86%) and Nifty Auto (0.63%).

According to exchange data, on Thursday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased shares worth ₹595.78 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹2,700.36 crore on a net basis.

On the global front, Asian equities were trading higher on Friday, supported by a rebound in technology stocks, though gains were capped as investors were cautious as Bank of Japan hiked overnight call rates by 25 bps to 0.75%--highest level in 30 years.

Japan's Nikkei rose 1.32%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.73%, and South Korea's KOSPI surged 0.85%, while the Shanghai Composite was trading 0.59% higher.

On Wall Street, major indices ended higher on Thursday after a softer-than-expected inflation report reinforced expectations of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.14%, the S&P 500 climbed 0.79%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 1.38%.

As many as 2,658 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 2,027 advanced, 562 declined, and 69 shares remained unchanged.

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

Meanwhile, 27 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 43 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 27 stocks hit their upper circuits, while 16 hit their lower circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading at 10.12 levels, rising 0.12%.

As many as 47 stocks advanced, while only 3 were trading lower in the opening session on the NIFTY50 index.

Tata Motors PV was the most contributing stock, rising 1.84% followed by Bharat Electronics (1.62%), Max Healthcare (1.6%), Jio Financial Services (1.45%) and Reliance Industries (1.39%).

On the flip side, Shriram Finance (-0.56%), Nestle India (-0.06%) and SBI Life Insurance (0.02%) were the only losers on the 50-share index.