Sensex Slips 200+ Points, Nifty Drops Below 26,100; Eternal Declines 1%, Rupee Weakens

Indian Markets Start Friday Flat; Gold and Silver Gain, Rupee Weakens.

Indian equity benchmarks opened Friday’s session on a mostly flat note, with a slight negative bias as investors remained cautious during the holiday-shortened week. Domestic markets were closed on Thursday for Christmas.

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

Sector Movers

Among the laggards, Bajaj Finance, Eternal, Sun Pharma, TCS, Tata Steel, and HCLTech fell up to 1.4%. Top gainers in early trade included BEL, Titan, NTPC, Power Grid, and ICICI Bank.

The broader market showed modest strength, with the Nifty Midcap index up 0.21% and the Nifty Smallcap index edging higher by 0.08%.

Commodities Corner

• Silver futures on MCX (March expiry) jumped over 3% to ₹2,32,156 per kg.

• Gold futures (February expiry) rose 0.6%.

Rupee Performance

The Indian rupee opened 7 paise weaker, at 89.86/$ compared to Wednesday’s close of 89.79/$.

Global Cues

Asian markets started on a positive note, though trading activity remained thin due to Boxing Day holidays in several regions. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.93% and South Korea’s KOSPI gained 0.73%. Australia and Hong Kong markets were closed.

Overnight, US equities ended higher in a holiday-shortened session on Wednesday. The S&P 500 added 0.32%, the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.22%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.6%, extending the broader market rally.