NEW YORK, January 2, 2026, 04:45 ET
- India’s Sensex rose about 0.6% in noon trade, with the Nifty 50 holding above 26,300.
- Nifty Bank hit a record high of 60,118 as banking shares led broader gains.
- Coal India touched a 52-week high on an auction policy tweak; ITC fell after higher cigarette excise duties were notified.
Indian shares rose on Friday, with the benchmark Nifty 50 trading above 26,300 and the Sensex up about 0.6% in noon deals, data from Upstox showed.
The move mattered because it came on the second trading day of 2026, as investors positioned for a run of corporate updates ahead of the quarterly earnings season, The Economic Times reported.
The Economic Times also said persistent foreign portfolio outflows have continued to temper risk appetite even as domestic sectors such as banks and metals lead gains.
At 12:30 p.m. IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 487.99 points, or 0.57%, at 85,676.59, while the NSE Nifty 50 gained 157.5 points, or 0.6%, to 26,304.05, Upstox said.
The Nifty Bank index, which tracks major banking stocks, hit a record high of 60,118 during the session, according to The Economic Times.
Coal India rose 4.88% and NTPC gained 3.48%, while Trent, Hindalco Industries and Jio Financial Services also advanced, Upstox said.
Coal India climbed nearly 5% to a 52-week high of 419.3 rupees after the state-run miner said coal consumers in Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal will be allowed to directly participate in its Single Window Mode Agnostic, or SWMA, e-auctions from January 1. SWMA is the company’s electronic auction route for coal imports from India, Upstox said.
Power-sector stock SJVN rose as much as 5.57% to an intraday high — the session’s peak price — of 78.89 rupees, according to MarketsMojo.
Devyani International jumped as much as 8.29% to an intraday high of 159.66 rupees after it announced plans to merge with Sapphire Foods, aiming to create a single Yum! India franchisee for KFC and Pizza Hut through a share-swap deal, Upstox reported.
Bharat Electronics gained about 2% after the defence electronics maker said in a regulatory filing it had secured additional orders worth 569 crore rupees since its last disclosure on December 29, Upstox said.
ITC and other cigarette makers slid for a second session after India’s finance ministry notified higher excise duties on cigarettes, effective February 1, alongside the goods and services tax (GST), India’s nationwide sales tax, Upstox said. ITC slipped as much as 5.1%, while Godfrey Phillips India and VST Industries also fell, it added.
Ola Electric Mobility surged nearly 9% to an intraday high of 40.77 rupees after it pointed to improved market share and demand indicators in December registrations, Upstox said. “Our priority has been to fix the fundamentals of service with speed and discipline,” chairman and managing director Bhavish Aggarwal said.
TVS Motor rose more than 2% and hit a 52-week high of 3,897.50 rupees after it reported a 50% year-on-year jump in December sales to about 481,000 units, Upstox said.
