Sensex, Nifty Today: GIFT Nifty signals flat-to-negative start; Dow ends near record highs

Sensex, Nifty Today: Indian equity markets are likely to open slightly negative on Monday, with early indicators pointing to muted sentiment. Expectations of a Santa Claus rally appear weak as global cues remain mixed and GIFT Nifty trades marginally lower.

GIFT Nifty indicates cautious opening

GIFT Nifty, the early indicator of the Nifty 50’s performance, was trading at 26,095, down 12 points or 0.05 per cent, as of 8:15 am. This suggests a flat-to-negative start for domestic benchmarks.

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Among key domestic cues, investors will track India’s industrial production data for November, scheduled to be released later in the day.

Asian markets mixed; MSCI Asia near highs

Asian stock markets traded mixed in early deals on Monday. The MSCI AC Asia Pacific index was up 0.38 per cent, supported by gains in South Korea’s Kospi and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index.

Global equities remained close to record levels, reflecting continued optimism despite signs of profit booking in some markets.

Dow, S&P 500 end week near record highs

Wall Street ended last week near record highs but pared gains by the close. The S&P 500 slipped 0.03 per cent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq declined 0.09 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also cooled after a strong weekly performance.

The three major US indices posted their strongest weekly gains since November 23. However, the five-day winning streak in US markets came to an end.

The S&P 500 marked its second consecutive lifetime high. The Dow is around 104 points away from its record peak, while the Nasdaq remains about 427 points below its life high.

Commodities volatile; precious metals at record levels

In commodities, silver surged to a fresh peak above $80 an ounce before falling more than 2 per cent. Gold extended gains for the third straight week and touched a new life high of Rs 140,465, or $4,584.

Silver hit a new life high of Rs 2,42000, or $82.61. Platinum recorded its biggest weekly jump in one year, rising 23 per cent. Crude oil hovered near weekly lows around $60 a barrel.

The dollar index weakened for the fifth consecutive week, its longest losing streak since August 2024. US bond yields fell for the second straight week. The rupee weakened against the dollar for the fifth day in a row.

Market breadth and derivatives data

On the domestic front, technical indicators weakened. The Nifty broke its four-day higher high and higher low pattern and formed a lower low and lower high, signalling short-term weakness. Bank Nifty remained under pressure for the third consecutive session and continued to trade in a narrow closing range of 58,800–59,800 for the past 29 days.

Midcap indices declined for the third day, while the smallcap index snapped a five-day rally but remained the strongest, closing above the key 17,000 level at 17,695. The metal index ended near a five-week high and hovered close to its life high of 10,837.

FII and DII activity

Foreign institutional investors reduced their index futures long positions to 11.06 per cent from 12.44 per cent. FIIs were net sellers in the cash market for the fourth straight day, offloading shares worth Rs 318 crore.

After five consecutive days of net buying across segments, FIIs turned marginal sellers on Friday, with net selling of Rs 282 crore. However, they continued to buy stock futures for the sixth straight day, purchasing shares worth Rs 1,166 crore.

Domestic institutional investors remained strong buyers for a record 84th consecutive session, investing Rs 1,773 crore. FIIs’ stock futures buying in December has reached Rs 11,174 crore so far, the highest since April 2025.