Market opening: SENSEX jumps 500 pts, NIFTY50 above 26,100 as IT, metal stocks rally; Shriram Finance, Infosys top gainers

The Indian stock market opened on a positive note for the second consecutive session on Monday, December 22, driven by a strong rally in IT and metal stocks. Positive global cues and foreign fund inflows also added to investor optimism.

The broader market was trading higher in early deals, with the Nifty Midcap 100 gaining 0.60% and the Nifty Smallcap 100 advancing 0.59%.

All the sectoral gauges were trading with gains in the opening session, with Nifty IT leading the rally, rising 1.21%. Nifty Metal (1.12%), Nifty Media (0.68%), Nifty Consumer Durables (0.48%), and Nifty Realty (0.46%) were the other top gainers.

Investors’ sentiment was further supported as the rupee continued to regain its position from record lows. On Monday, the local currency opened 22 paise higher at 89.45 against the US dollar.

According to exchange data, on Friday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased shares worth ₹1,830.89 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹5,722.89 crore on a net basis.

On the global front, Asian markets traded higher on Monday amid broad-based buying, even as investors remained cautious after China kept its key lending rates unchanged.

Japan's Nikkei rose 1.82%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.41%, and South Korea's KOSPI surged 1.77%, while the Shanghai Composite was trading 0.64% higher.

Last week on Friday, the US stocks closed higher after a rebound in technology shares. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.38%, the S&P 500 climbed 0.88%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 1.31%.

As many as 2,780 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 2,146 advanced, 553 declined, and 81 shares remained unchanged.

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

Meanwhile, 62 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 23 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 41 stocks hit their upper circuits, while 22 hit their lower circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading at 9.70 levels, rising 1.89%.

As many as 46 stocks advanced, while only 4 were trading lower in the opening session on the NIFTY50 index.

Shriram Finance was the most contributing stock, soaring 2.36%, followed by Infosys (2.05%), Hindalco Industries (2.04%), Tata Steel (1.53%) and Wipro (1.31%).

On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra (-0.14%), UltraTech Cement (-0.12%), SBI Life Insurance (-0.09%) and Power Grid (-0.08%) were the only laggards on the 50-share index.