SENSEX, NIFTY50 open with marginal gains, metal stocks rally; Tata Steel, Hindalco among top gainers, VIX up 5%

The Indian stock market opened marginally higher on Monday, December 29, tracking Asian peers and a rally in metal stocks.

The broader market, however, was trading lower in early deals, with the Nifty Midcap 100 falling 0.11% and the Nifty Smallcap 100 losing 0.14%.

Among sectors, the Nifty Metal index led the gains, rising 1.03%, followed by Nifty Auto (0.09%), Nifty Private Bank (0.05%) and Nifty PSU Bank (0.02%), which were the only sectors in the green.

On the downside, Nifty Consumer Durables fell 0.36%, while Nifty Media and Nifty Realty slipped 0.22% and 0.21%, respectively, emerging as the top laggards during the opening session.

According to exchange data, on Friday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹ 317.56 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹ 1,772.56 crore on a net basis.

Globally, most of the Asian markets were trading higher on expectations of a Fed rate cut next year, which also sparked a rally in precious metals.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.55%, South Korea's KOSPI surged 1.61%, the Shanghai Composite was trading 0.31% higher, while Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.24%.

Last week, the US stocks closed near record highs on Friday amid muted trading owing to a post-Christmas trading session.

The benchmarks ended little changed as the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.04%, the S&P 500 fell 0.03%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq slipped 0.09%.

As many as 2,731 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 1,170 advanced, 1,445 declined, and 116 shares remained unchanged.

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

Meanwhile, 60 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 48 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 28 stocks hit their upper circuits, while 35 hit their lower circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading at 9.62 levels, rising 5.08%.

As many as 28 stocks advanced, while 21 were trading lower and two remained unchanged in the opening session on the NIFTY50 index.

Tata Steel was the most contributing stock, rising 1.23%, followed by Hindalco Industries (1.05%), Bharat Electronics (0.74%), Eternal (0.73%) and Tata Motors PV (0.71%).

On the flip side, Adani Ports (-0.79%), Power Grid (-0.51%), Axis Bank (-0.42%), HCL Technologies (-0.38%) and Reliance Industries (-0.36%) were the top losers on the 50-share index.