Markets opened on a positive note on Friday, with the Nifty 50 rising 135.70 points or 0.53 per cent to 25,801.30 and the Sensex gaining 482.96 points or 0.58 per cent to 83,865.67 in early trade. The rally was driven by strong buying in IT stocks after Infosys raised its revenue guidance, providing a much-needed confidence boost to investor sentiment amid ongoing foreign institutional selling.
The Nifty 50 had closed at 25,665.60 in the previous session, while the Sensex ended at 83,382.71. Both indices opened higher today at 25,696.05 and 83,670.79, respectively, building on gains from the previous session when optimistic remarks about an India-US trade deal sparked a sharp recovery.
IT stocks dominated the gainers’ list with Infosys surging 4.63 per cent to ₹1,673.80 after raising its FY26 revenue guidance. Wipro jumped 3.38 per cent to ₹269.00, while Tech Mahindra climbed 3.08 per cent to ₹1,637.40. TCS added 2.38 per cent to ₹3,210.00, continuing to support the IT sector’s momentum. Shriram Finance gained 2.58 per cent to ₹1,006.40, rounding out the top five gainers on the Nifty 50.
“Indian equity markets opened with a mild positive bias, supported by steady domestic institutional buying and fresh interest in IT stocks after Infosys raised its FY26 revenue guidance, providing a confidence boost to investor sentiment,” said Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money. “Despite lingering caution due to mixed Asian cues, ongoing geopolitical developments and persistent foreign institutional selling, early trade is reflecting underlying resilience.”
On the losing side, Cipla declined 2.50 per cent to ₹1,398.70, followed by Eicher Motors which fell 2.24 per cent to ₹292.55. HDFC Life Insurance dropped 2.16 per cent to ₹727.15, while Sun Pharma shed 1.34 per cent to ₹1,677.90. Bharti Airtel declined 1.08 per cent to ₹2,000.60, completing the list of top losers.
Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers, offloading ₹4,781 crore in Indian equities on January 14, according to Aakash Shah, Technical Research Analyst at Choice Equity Broking. However, domestic institutional investors provided crucial support with net purchases of ₹5,217 crore on the same day, helping stabilise market sentiment.
“There are no triggers to take the market significantly up or down. A directionless drift is the likely trend,” said Dr VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments. “The market is likely to respond to the major Q3 results that will continue to flow in. Better-than-expected results will trigger stock-specific action but these are unlikely to take the market as a whole to significantly higher levels.”
From a technical perspective, the Nifty 50 continues to consolidate within the 25,600-25,900 range. “Nifty 50 remains stuck in a sideways consolidation phase within the 25,600-25,900 range following recent volatility,” said Ponmudi. “Immediate support is placed at 25,600; a decisive breakdown below this level could open downside towards 25,500-25,400 and lower. On the upside, the 25,800-25,900 zone remains a strong supply area.”
Bank Nifty showed resilience, trading near 59,760 and holding above its short-term moving averages. “Bank Nifty continues to display relative strength compared to the broader market,” noted Ponmudi. “Immediate resistance is placed near 59,800, followed by the key psychological barrier at 60,000.”
Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research at Kotak Securities, observed that Metal and PSU Bank indices rallied over 2 per cent in the previous session, while the IT index initially lost the most before recovering today. “We are of the view that the intraday market texture is non-directional; perhaps traders are waiting for either side to breakout,” he said.
Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP at Mehta Equities, recommended a cautious approach. “From a trading perspective, a sell-on-rise strategy is preferred on Nifty and Bank Nifty, while Axis Bank and Union Bank of India remain stocks to accumulate on dips,” he said.
India VIX, the volatility index, cooled to 11.3200, indicating low volatility expectations and suggesting range-bound trading with stock-specific moves rather than sharp directional swings, according to Shah.