At about 9:45 am, the BSE Sensex rose 220 points, or 0.26%, to open at 85,444, while the NSE Nifty 50 climbed 55 points, or 0.22%, at 26,184.
On the 30-stock Sensex, gains were led by Eternal, Adani Ports, NTPC, Reliance Industries, Tata Steel, and UltraTech Cement, rising in the range of 1-1.3%. Laggards on the index included ITC, BEL, Sun Pharma, Hindustan Unilever and Bajaj Finserv.
FMCG stocks, mainly led by ITC, took a massive hit, down 5% after the finance ministry notified February 1 as the date from which additional excise duty will be levied on tobacco products. ITC shares fell 4.5% to day’s low of Rs 385 while those of Godfrey Phillips tumbled 8% to Rs 2540.15 on BSE. The finance ministry late on Wednesday notified an excise duty of Rs 2,050–8,500 per 1,000 sticks, depending on cigarette length, effective February 1.
Broader market benchmarks were mixed with mid-cap being mildly in the green, while smallcaps down by about 0.2%.
Expert views
Analysts say the coming days are going to be eventful, starting with the auto sales data for December, Q3 corporate results, expectations from the budget and other news relating to the global economy like the possible Fed action in 2026. The Q3 results have to be watched carefully for indications of uptick in earnings. “This is significant since there is lot of hope that there will be a rebound in earnings, going forward. Earnings growth will be the single most important factor determining the market trend in 2026. The FII flows in 2026, too, will depend on the earnings performance and expectations surrounding that,” V K Vijayakumar of Geojit Investments Ltd said.FII/DII Tracker
On the institutional front, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold equities worth a little over Rs 3,597 crore on December 31, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) were net buyers to the tune of Rs 6,760 crore.
Global Markets
Wall Street indexes closed lower on Wednesday amid light trading on the final day of 2025, mirroring weakness across global markets. Investors also booked profits in precious metals as markets wrapped up a volatile year. Despite the decline, U.S. equities ended the year just shy of record highs, buoyed by robust double-digit gains over the past twelve months.
All three major U.S. stock indexes finished firmly in negative territory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 303.77 points, or 0.63%, to close at 48,063.29. The S&P 500 declined 50.74 points, or 0.74%, to 6,845.50, while the Nasdaq Composite slid 177.09 points, or 0.76%, to end at 23,241.99.
European equities edged lower but remained slightly below record levels, capping their strongest annual percentage gains in four years. The rally in European stocks over the year was driven by lower interest rates, fiscal support measures in Germany and a rotation away from expensive U.S. technology-related shares.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index slipped 0.1%, while the FTSEurofirst 300 index declined 1.62 points, or 0.07%.Emerging market equities ended the session higher. The MSCI Emerging Markets index rose 2.37 points, or 0.17%, to 1,404.90.
Asian markets outside Japan also closed marginally higher, with MSCI’s Asia-Pacific shares index excluding Japan gaining 0.05% to 722.41.Japanese equities, however, underperformed regional peers. The Nikkei index fell 187.44 points, or 0.37%, to close at 50,339.48.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of major currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.01% to 98.25. The euro was slightly stronger, up 0.02% at $1.1748.
Crude impact
Crude oil prices fell as concerns over oversupply outweighed geopolitical risks, with prices recording their biggest annual decline since 2020. U.S. crude dropped 0.91% to settle at $57.42 per barrel, while Brent crude ended the session at $60.85 per barrel, down 0.78% on the day.
Rupee vs Dollar
The Indian rupee weakened in early trading on Wednesday, slipping 8 paise to 89.95 against the U.S. dollar, as continued foreign fund outflows and a subdued start for domestic equities weighed on the currency.
(with inputs from agencies)