First Trade: Indices open higher for fourth straight day; Nifty hovers above 25,500

Indian equities rallied for the fourth straight day on Friday (June 27, 2025) as the July F&O series begins today. At the open, Nifty50 gained over 24 points or 0.09 per cent to 25,573.2, while the BSE 30-share Sensex traded higher by 16.13 points or 0.02 per cent at 83,772.

Meanwhile, the Bank Nifty ahead of the key RBI VRRO auction today saw profit booking and was down nearly 75 points.

Broader markets, however, outperformed the headline indices with both the smallcap and midcap indices gaining ground.

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Primarily sustained weakness in the dollar index to around 97 acted as a prime catalyst for huge FII flow of Rs 12,954 crore in the previous session. Heavy FII buying also lifted large caps like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Bharti, RIL and Bajaj Finance, which in turn, has been contributing to the sharp spike in the benchmark indices.

From the Nifty50 pack, top gainers in early trade included stocks like Larsen and Toubro, Tata Steel, SBI, Apollo Hospitals and NTPC, while laggards were SBI Life Insurance, Cipla, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bajaj Finserv.

Sectoral watch

Amid a mixed sectoral performance, PSU Banks and metal led the gains with each gauge up more than 1 per cent, followed by IT, media, pharma and consumer durables, Nonetheless, financial services and private bank indices traded weak.

Stocks to watch

Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) : HAL board is set to meet on Friday to consider what could be a final dividend for FY25.

Banking stocks: The Nifty Bank basket will be in focus with the RBI scheduled to hold a seven -day Variable Rate Reverse Repo (VRRR) auction on Friday.

Power Mech Projects: The company has secured a 25-year, Rs 159-crore solar power contract from Bihar State Power Generation.

Nestle: The company will be issuing 1:1 bonus shares.

Asian markets

Asian stocks gained in Friday's session with Japan leading gains, spurred by a boom in technology shares in the overnight trade on Wall Street. At the last count, the key MSCI Asia ex Japan index was down by a tad 0.05 per cent.

Meanwhile, investors preferred to remain on the sidelines as the July 9 US tariff deadline looms, despite reports of a US-China trade deal and likely truce with other trading allies.