Market opening: NIFTY reclaims 26,000 mark, SENSEX jumps 398 pts as metal stocks rally; L&T, Hindalco top gainers

The Indian stock market opened in the green for the second straight session on Friday, December 12, following a rally in metal stocks and positive cues from Asian markets.

The broader market was trading higher in early deals, with the Nifty Midcap 100 marginally gaining 0.35% and the Nifty Smallcap 100 advancing 0.55%.

Among sectors, barring Nifty IT (-0.12%), which dipped due to a weakening rupee, all other indices were trading with gains. Nifty Metal led the winners, rising 1.22%, followed by Nifty Realty (0.66%). Nifty Oil & Gas and Nifty Media climbed 0.63% each, while Nifty Private Bank added 0.37%.

The domestic currency hit another record low level of 90.52 against the US dollar in early trade, declining 20 paise on Friday.

According to exchange data, on Thursday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹2,020.94 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹3,796.07 crore on a net basis.

Global Asian markets traded higher on Thursday, taking cues from a strong rally on Wall Street, as investor sentiment strengthened after the US Federal Reserve rate cut.

Japan's Nikkei rose 0.94%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 1.34%, and South Korea's KOSPI surged 0.74%, while the Shanghai Composite was trading 0.04% lower.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and Dow closed at record highs on Thursday on the back of a less hawkish than expected Federal Reserve policy update, even as the Nasdaq lagged amid renewed caution over AI-linked stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.34%, the S&P 500 climbed 0.21%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.25%.

As many as 2,650 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 2,082 advanced, 507 declined, and 61 shares remained unchanged.

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

Meanwhile, 35 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 18 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 29 stocks hit their upper circuits, while 14 hit their lower circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading at 10.11 levels, falling 2.78%.

Larsen & Toubro was the biggest contributing stock, rising 2.24%, followed by Hindalco Industries (2.14%), Tata Steel (1.73%), Adani Ports (1.1%) and Bharat Electronics (1.06%).

On the flip side, Wipro (-0.54%), Max Healthcare (-0.54%), Eicher Motors (-0.35%), Hindustan Unilever (-0.25%) and Bajaj Auto (-0.22%) were the biggest losing stocks on the 50-share index.