Market Wrap, Dec 12: NIFTY50 ends at 26,047, SENSEX rises 449 pts as metal stocks rally; SMIDs outperform; Tata Steel top gainer

The Indian stock market closed with gains for the second consecutive session on Friday, December 12, led by a strong rally in metal, realty and oil and gas stocks amid positive cues from global markets.

The broader market, however, outperformed the main equity benchmark indices, gaining almost 1%.

Despite Friday’s gains, the benchmark equity indices ended the week with a 0.5% loss, while Nifty Bank fell 0.6% on a weekly basis. Broader markets also weakened, with the Nifty Midcap 100 slipping 0.5% and the Nifty Smallcap 100 declining 0.7%.

Meanwhile, the domestic currency slipped to a fresh record low of 90.52 against the US dollar on Friday, weakening by 20 paise. On a provisional basis, the rupee ended the session at an all-time low of 90.42 per dollar, down 10 paise.

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.

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

Japan's Nikkei rose 1.45%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 1.62%, South Korea's KOSPI surged 1.36%, while the Shanghai Composite ended 0.41% higher.

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%.

Here are the key developments of Friday's session that you need to know

As many as 3,196 stocks traded on the NSE on Friday. Out of this, 2,072 advanced and 1,036 stocks declined, while 88 scrips remained unchanged.

This indicated that the market breadth was in favour of advances.

A total of 58 stocks hit their 52-week highs, while 57 stocks touched their one-year lows. Besides, 80 stocks hit their upper circuit limits, and 39 touched their lower circuit bands on Friday.

NSE-listed firms' market capitalisation stood at ₹467.86 lakh crore at the end of the session.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, stood at 10.11 levels, falling 2.81%.

The Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 1.18% to 60,283.30, supported by strong gains in GMR Airports (6.15%), NALCO (5.3%), and Swiggy (3.86%).

Driven by Anant Raj (8.61%), Hindustan Copper (7.32%) and Kaynes Technology (5.32%), the Nifty Smallcap 100 index surged 0.94% to close at 17,389.95.

Except for Nifty FMCG (-0.24%) and Nifty Media (-0.05%), all the other sectoral indices ended in green.

Nifty Metal rallied 2.63%, followed by Nifty Realty (1.53%), Nifty Consumer Durables (1.46%), Nifty Oil and Gas (1.11%) and Nifty Auto (0.58%).

On the NIFTY50 index, 36 stocks advanced while 14 declined on Friday.

Tata Steel was the biggest contributor, gaining 3.38%, followed by Hindalco Industries (3.26%), Eternal (2.37%), UltraTech Cement (2.25%) and Larsen & Toubro (1.72%).

On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever (-1.8%), Max Healthcare (-0.73%), Sun Pharma (-0.72%), ITC (-0.55%) and Asian Paints (-0.52%) were the top laggards on the 50-share index.