Sensex Recovers 545 Points, Nifty Reclaims 26,000 As RIL, Metal, Banking Stocks Lead Gains

Benchmark indices snapped their four-day losing streak to close higher on the final trading day of 2025, led by gains in index heavyweights, metal and banking stocks. The government’s decision to slap safeguard duties on certain steel imports gave a boost to sentiment in the metal sector, enhancing earnings visibility for domestic producers.

At close, Sensex was up by 545.52 points, or 0.64 per cent at 85,220.60, and Nifty 50 was up by 190.75 points or 0.74 per cent at 26,129.60.

The broader market indices outperformed the benchmarks, with the Nifty Midcap 100 closing higher by 0.95 per cent, the Nifty Smallcap 100 settling up by 1.11 per cent, and the Nifty 500 ending higher by 0.86 per cent.

Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables, Metals, Power Gains

Among Nifty's sectoral indices, oil & gas rose the most, climbing 2.66 per cent, followed by consumer durables, which rose 1.56 per cent, and metal, which closed higher by 1.45 per cent. PSU banks, private banks, auto, and chemical also gained more than 1 per cent each. Barring IT, all other sectoral indices closed in green. Nifty IT slipped 0.30 per cent to close at 37,884.05.

Nifty Bank, which reflects the behaviour of 12 most valuable and actively traded banking stocks, surged 0.69 per cent to close at 59,581.85.

Nifty 50: Top Gainers And Losers

Among Nifty 50's constituents, JSW Steel jumped 4.88 per cent, ONGC rallied 2.46 per cent, Tata Steel surged 2.35 per cent, and Kotak Mahindra Bank advanced 2.34 per cent, emerging as the top gainers of the day.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries climbed 1.90 per cent. Titan, Axis Bank, SBI Life Insurance, Shriram Finance, Eicher Motors, Trent, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, NTPC, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Bharat Electronics gained more than 1.50 per cent.

On the other hand, barring Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tech Mahindra, Grasim Industries, Bajaj Finance, Infosys, and Sun Pharma, all other Nifty 50 stocks closed in the green territory.

Stock Market Outlook

As trading resumes on January 1, 2026, market participants will be taking cues from a host of geopolitical events.

The recent massive military drills China conducted around Taiwan drew flak from Japan, Australia and certain European countries. Market participants will be keeping a close eye on further escalation on this front. Further, any escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict will also be a key event to keep track of. The India-US trade deal is still in limbo; any update on this space will be closely watched.

The October-December quarter (Q3) earnings season is set to begin soon, and market participants will be viewing earnings estimates to gauge the growth of corporate India.

Further, market participants are likely to react to India’s fiscal deficit numbers for the April-November period. Government data released earlier today showed that the country’s fiscal deficit stood at Rs 9.76 lakh crore, or 62.30 per cent of the annual target, widening from 52.50 per cent in the same period last year. The government aims to bring the fiscal gap down to 4.40 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in FY26 from 4.80 per cent in FY25.