Market opening: NIFTY50 opens at 25,732, SENSEX up 275 pts led by rally in IT stocks; Nifty IT rises 2%, Infosys jumps 5%

Snapping its long losing streak, the Indian stock market opened with gains on Friday, January 16, led by a strong rally in IT, PSU bank and realty stocks.

The broader market was also trading higher in early deals, with both the Nifty Midcap 100 and the Nifty Smallcap 100 advancing 0.47% and 0.15%, respectively.

Among sectors, Nifty IT took the lead among gainers, rising 2.14%, followed by Nifty Realty (1.99%) and Nifty PSU Bank (1.07%). On the other hand, Nifty Pharma (-0.34%), Nifty Media (-0.32%) and Nifty Metal (-0.31%) were the only sectoral losers.

According to exchange data, on Wednesday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹4,781.24 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹5,217.28 crore on a net basis.

On the global front, Asian indices were mostly trading with gains on Friday as the artificial intelligence boom regained momentum, Reuters reported.  Japan's Nikkei was trading down 0.33%, China's Shanghai Composite slipped 0.22%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.15%, while South Korea's KOSPI gained 1.16%. The Taiwan Weighted index was also trading higher, with an increase of 1.8%.

On Wall Street, the key benchmark indices climbed on Thursday, rebounding from back-to-back losses as chip and bank stocks rallied.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 292.81 points, or 0.60%, to 49,442.44, boosted by gains in Goldman Sachs and Nvidia. The S&P 500 rose 0.26% to 6,944.47, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.25% to 23,530.02.

As many as 2,742 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 1,323 advanced, 1,312 declined, and 107 shares remained unchanged.

Meanwhile, 44 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 68 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 32 stocks hit their upper circuits, while 20 hit their lower circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading at 11.29 levels, falling 0.28%.

Infosys was the most contributing stock, surging 4.83%, followed by Wipro (3%), Tech Mahindra (2.56%), Shriram Finance (1.97%) and TCS (1.67%).

On the flip side, Cipla (-3.21%), HDFC Life Insurance (-3.11%), Eternal (-1.79%), ONGC (-1.33%), and Bharti Airtel (-1.22%) were the top losers on the 50-share index.