December 26 Marks Veer Bal Diwas, Honouring the Bravery of Sikh Sahibzadas

Indian Markets Open Flat; Gold, Silver Gain as Rupee Weakens.

Indian equity benchmarks opened largely flat on Friday, with investors cautious in a holiday-shortened week. Markets were closed on Thursday for Christmas.

At around 9:20 AM, the NSE Nifty dipped 12 points (0.05%) to 26,130.10, while the BSE Sensex slipped 36.71 points (0.04%) to 85,371.99.

Top Movers:

• Laggards: Bajaj Finance, Eternal, Sun Pharma, TCS, Tata Steel, HCLTech (down up to 1.4%)

• Gainers: BEL, Titan, NTPC, Power Grid, ICICI Bank

The broader market showed mild strength, with the Nifty Midcap index up 0.21% and the Nifty Smallcap index up 0.08%.

Commodities:

• Silver futures (MCX March) surged over 3% to ₹2,32,156/kg

• Gold futures (MCX Feb) rose 0.6%

Currency:
The rupee opened weaker by 7 paise at ₹89.86/$, from Wednesday’s close of ₹89.79/$.

Global Markets:

• Asia: Nikkei 225 up 0.93%, KOSPI up 0.73%; markets in Australia and Hong Kong closed

• US: S&P 500 rose 0.32%, Nasdaq 0.22%, Dow Jones 0.6%, extending the post-holiday rally

Investors await fresh domestic triggers as markets remain cautious ahead of the long weekend.