NIFTY TAD ABOVE 25,750; OIL & GAS SHARES ADVANCE

The key equity benchmarks traded with modest gains in the early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded a tad above the 25,750 mark. Oil & gas stocks advanced after declining in the past trading session.

At 12:30 ST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 62.57 points or 0.07% to 83,690.26. The Nifty 50 index added 24.55 points or 0.10% to 25,756.70.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index jumped 0.24% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.36%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,092 shares rose and 1,830 shares fell. A total of 199 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

The annual rate of inflation based on the all-India Wholesale Price Index (WPI) increased 0.83% year-on-year in December 2025, compared with a decline of 0.32% in November 2025, surpassing market expectations of a 0.30% rise. Inflation turned positive after three months and marked the fastest pace since April, mainly driven by higher prices of manufactured products.

Inflation in manufactured products accelerated to 1.82% in December 2025 from 1.33% in November 2025, led by an increase in prices of food products, pharmaceuticals, medicinal chemical and botanical products, and cement, lime & plaster. Inflation in food products rose to 0.90% from 0.62%, while prices of pharmaceuticals increased to 1.60% from 1.39% a month earlier. Inflation in cement, lime & plaster stood at 0.30% compared with 0.08% in November.

Food prices remained unchanged in December after declining 2.27% in November, supported by higher prices of milk, fruits, eggs, meat & fish.

Meanwhile, inflation in fuel and power remained negative at 2.31% in December 2025 compared with a contraction of 2.27% in November, weighed down by lower prices of LPG, petrol, and high-speed diesel.

Derivatives:

The NSE`s India VIX, a gauge of the market`s expectation of volatility over the near term, shed 0.04% to 11.19. The Nifty 27 January 2025 futures were trading at 25,823.10, at a premium of 60.65 points as compared with the spot at 25,721.85.

The Nifty option chain for the 27 January 2025 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 57.5 lakh contracts at the 27,000 strike price. Maximum put OI of 53.8 lakh contracts was seen at the 26,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Oil & Gas index rose 0.94% to 11,762.70. The index fell 0.34% in the past trading session.

Oil India (up 3.06%), Oil & Natural Gas Corpn (up 2.61%), Indian Oil Corporation (up 1.17%), Gujarat State Petronet (up 0.75%), Indraprastha Gas (up 0.61%), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (up 0.55%), Reliance Industries (up 0.52%), Mahanagar Gas (up 0.34%), Petronet LNG (up 0.3%) and Adani Total Gas (up 0.24%) advanced.

On the other hand, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (down 1.29%) and Gujarat Gas (down 0.28%) edged lower.

Stocks in Spotlight:

NLC India added 2.64% after the company signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Gujarat for the development of large-scale renewable energy (RE) projects.

Garment Mantra Lifestyle jumped 3.48% after the company said it has achieved export sales of Rs 100 crore in the current financial year, marking the highest-ever export performance since its inception.

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