Nifty around 23,500; Sensex up 500 pts led by banks, IT; Adani shares lag

Indian benchmark indices BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 were trading higher on Friday.

At around 11 AM, the BSE Sensex was at 77,778, up 622 points, or 0.81 per cent, while the Nifty 50 was at 23,540, up 190 points, or 0.82 per cent.

After opening bell, 20 out of the 30 stocks on the BSE Sensex were trading higher, with gains of up to 1.17 per cent, led by SBI, followed by ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, IndusInd Bank, and Tech Mahindra. Among the top drags were Adani Ports & SEZ (down 3.28 per cent), followed by TCS, ITC, Titan, and Nestle India.

On the Nifty 50, 40 out of the 50 stocks were trading higher, with gains led by HDFC Life (up 1.33 per cent), followed by ONGC, SBI, Tata Motors, and ICICI Bank, while losses were capped by Adani Enterprises (down 2.48 per cent), followed by Adani Ports & SEZ, TCS, Titan, and Axis Bank.

All the sectoral indices were trading higher, with gains led by the PSU Bank index (up 1.75 per cent), followed by Realty and Oil.

In the broader markets, meanwhile, the Nifty Midcap 100 was higher by 0.62 per cent and the Nifty Smallcap 100 was ahead by 0.71 per cent.

The risk gauge, India VIX, was lower by 2.20 per cent.

A day after Adani Group stocks were battered following formal charges of alleged bribery and fraud brought by US prosecutors against the group’s Chiarman, Gautam Adani and others, investors would keep their eyes peeled for any fresh developments in the case, and movement in the group’s stocks.

Indian equity benchmarks declined on Thursday as the selloff in the Adani group added to the woes of investors, who are reeling from the pressure of continuous selling by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and weak corporate results.

The benchmark BSE Sensex had ended the previous session at 77,156, a decline of 423 points or 0.5 per cent, while the Nifty 50 finished at 23,350, a drop of 169 points or 0.7 per cent.

However, the correction in Indian equities on Thursday was more modest than what it was in the aftermath of allegations of market manipulation against the Adani group by Hindenburg Research, a short-seller.

In the broader markets, the Nifty Smallcap 100 and Nifty Midcap 100 indices fell 0.30 per cent and 0.46 per cent, respectively. Meanwhile, India VIX, which gauges market volatility, settled 2.09 per cent higher at 15.99 points.

All sectoral indices ended in the red, except Nifty IT, Realty, and Private Bank. Nifty PSU Bank, Media, and Metal were the top laggards, falling over 2 per cent each.

In a related development to the Adani case, Quant mutual fund (MF) may have taken the biggest hit among fund houses from the slump in Adani group shares on Thursday. Quant MF, which manages over Rs 1 trillion worth of assets, had the highest exposure to these stocks among the larger fund houses.

In another story, India will likely be insulated from possible global headwinds in the calendar year 2025 but the domestic factors — earnings growth slowdown and high valuations — will weigh on equity market performance, Goldman Sachs said in its India outlook for 2025.

The US brokerage sees the India market remaining range-bound over the next three months and has given a target of 27,000 for Nifty by the end of 2025.

Markets in the Asia-Pacific region mostly rose on Friday, tracking gains on Wall Street.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 0.78 per cent while the broad-based Topix rose 0.53 per cent.

Elsewhere, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was ahead by 0.92 per cent, and South Korea’s Kospi was higher by 1.12 per cent while the small-cap Kosdaq was ahead by 0.81 per cent.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was trading 0.35 per cent higher, while mainland China’s CSI 300 was nearly flat with a positive bias, up 0.02 per cent. The Shanghai Composite was lower by 0.16 per cent.

Apart from that, an index of global stock markets edged higher in choppy trading on Thursday as investors digested lackluster revenue forecasts from artificial-intelligence chipmaker Nvidia and bitcoin approached the $100,000 milestone.

On Wall Street, the three main indexes finished higher in a choppy session led by gains in utilities, financials, consumer staples and industrials. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.06 per cent to 43,870.35, the S&P 500 rose 0.53 per cent to 5,948.71 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.03 per cent to 18,972.42.

MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe was up 0.38 per cent to 851.05 after losing ground early in the session. European shares were up 0.41 per cent, buoyed by a rally in energy and technology stocks.

Bitcoin soared and is closing in on the $100,000 milestone. The world’s largest cryptocurrency has gained more than 40 per cent since Donald Trump won the Nov. 5 election, driven by expectations that his administration will be crypto-friendly. It gained 3.75 per cent to $98,005.00. Ethereum rose 8.77 per cent to $3,350.80.

Markets are also eyeing Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary, who will play a key role in implementing his agenda of tariffs, tax cuts and deregulation.

The dollar rose in choppy trading as investors assessed declining weekly jobless claims, suggesting labor-market strength, and comments from two Federal Reserve governors on the path of interest rates.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, rose 0.37 per cent to 107, reaching a 13-month high.

Oil prices settled up about 2 per cent after Russia and Ukraine exchanged missiles, raising crude-supply concerns. Brent crude futures rose 1.95 per cent to $74.23 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures increased 2 per cent to $70.10.

Spot gold rose, on track for the fourth-consecutive session of gains after hitting a more than one-week high. Spot gold rose 0.8 per cent to $2,671.28 an ounce. US gold futures settled 0.9 per cent higher at $2,674.90.