opened on a cautious note on Wednesday morning, extending the previous session’s consolidation as traders booked profits at higher levels amid mixed global cues and renewed concerns over US tariffs and geopolitical tensions.
The opened at 84,620.40 against the previous close of 85,063.34 and was trading at 84,877.08, down 186.26 points or 0.22 per cent at 9:50 am. The opened at 26,143.10 compared to the previous close of 26,178.70 and was at 26,116.20, down 62.50 points or 0.24 per cent.
Titan Company emerged as the top gainer on the Nifty50, surging 4.12 per cent to ₹4,281.40, followed by Apollo Hospitals which gained 0.95 per cent to ₹7,417.50. Infosys rose 0.81 per cent to ₹1,625.30, while Wipro climbed 0.66 per cent to ₹267.35.
Tata Consumer Products advanced 0.59 per cent to ₹1,217.60. On the losing side, Cipla led the decliners, falling 2.55 per cent to ₹1,491.70. Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles dropped 1.92 per cent to ₹361.80, HDFC Bank declined 1.13 per cent to ₹951.35, Bharti Airtel slipped 1.08 per cent to ₹2,082.60, and ONGC lost 1.05 per cent to ₹239.36.
“Indian equity markets are likely to open on a flat and cautious note today, tracking mixed global cues after a guarded start to the week,” said Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money. “Rising geopolitical tensions and fresh tariff-related concerns have triggered profit-booking at higher levels, keeping risk appetite in check.”
The previous trading session witnessed the Nifty slipping 72 points to 26,179, while the Sensex fell 376 points to 85,063. Bank Nifty edged up to 60,118. Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities, noted that “Dalal Street ended lower as renewed worries over additional US tariffs and rising geopolitical tensions weighed on sentiment.”
He added that “Reliance Industries lagged with a 4.39 per cent drop, and HDFC Bank hit a three-month low on profit-booking.”
Sectoral performance remained mixed during early trade. The pharma and healthcare indices had performed better in the previous session, both gaining over 1.5 per cent, while the oil and gas index fell the most, declining 1.80 per cent. On Tuesday morning, buying interest in pharma, IT, consumer durables, and metal stocks provided downside support, while selective profit-booking continued in large-cap stocks.
“The recent market movements have been devoid of any trend and clear direction,” said Dr VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments. “Actions in a few mega stocks are influencing the overall market disproportionately.” He explained that “despite positive institutional buying Nifty drifted down by 71 points, mainly due to sharp declines in two stocks- Reliance and HDFC Bank.”
On the institutional front, Foreign Institutional Investors were net sellers on January 6, 2026, offloading shares worth approximately ₹107.6 crore, while Domestic Institutional Investors provided support by purchasing equities worth around ₹1,749.4 crore.
Shrikant Chouhan, Head Equity Research at Kotak Securities, said “we believe the intraday market formation remains weak, but fresh selling is possible only after a breach of the 26,100/84,800 level.” He added that “below this level, the market could slide towards 26,000-25,950/84,500-84,350.”
In the commodities market, crude oil futures fell more than 1 per cent on Wednesday morning after US President Donald Trump announced that Venezuela would supply millions of barrels of oil to the US.
were trading at ₹5,097 on Multi Commodity Exchange against the previous close of ₹5,210, down by 2.17 per cent, while February futures were trading at ₹5,115 against the previous close of ₹5,219, down by 1.99 per cent.
Gold and silver continued their rally, with MCX Gold trading around ₹1,39,083 and MCX Silver near ₹2,58,836. “Gold prices edged closer to record highs on Tuesday, while silver surged to a fresh all-time peak, crossing the $80 mark in international markets,” said Rahul Kalantri, VP Commodities at Mehta Equities. “The rally was driven by strong safe-haven demand following heightened global tensions.”