In a volatile trading session, Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended with minor gains on first day of the New Year 2026. Market made a positive start. Sentiments got boost as the Reserve Bank of India in its half-yearly Financial Stability Report said that the Indian economy is growing at a robust pace, driven by strong domestic demand, low inflation, and the healthy balance sheets of banks. The domestic financial system remains robust and resilient, bolstered by strong balance sheets, easy financial conditions, and low financial market volatility. Further, index continued its choppy trade in green. Traders took a note of the government data showing that the Centre's fiscal deficit at the end of November stood at Rs 9.76 lakh crore, or 62.3 per cent of the annual budget target for 2025-26, compared to 52.5 per cent in the year-ago period. In second half of the session, market remained volatile and ended with marginal gains.  

Most of the sectorial indices ended in green except FMCG, Pharma and chemicals stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Vodafone Idea, JSW Energy and Indus Towers. On the other hand, the top losers were D-mart, United Spirits and ITC. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 25900 - 26100 calls and 25950 - 26150 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short-term expectation of volatility decreased by 3.06% and reached 9.18. The 50 share Nifty up by 16.95 point or 0.06% to settle at 26,146.55.

Nifty January 2026 futures closed at 26291.00 (LTP) on Thursday, at a premium of 144.45 points over spot closing of 26146.55, while Nifty February 2026 futures ended at 26430.00 (LTP), at a premium of 283.45 points over spot closing. Nifty January futures saw an addition of 465 units, taking the total open interest (OI) to 2,16,257 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on January 27, 2026. (Provisional)
From the most active contracts, ITC January 2026 futures traded at a premium of 2.35 points at 366.30 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 363.95. The numbers of contracts traded were 1,09,724. (Provisional)

Vodafone Idea January 2026 futures traded at a premium of 0.09 points at 11.72 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 11.63. The numbers of contracts traded were 33,666.  (Provisional)

Indus Towers January 2026 futures traded at a premium of 2.20 points at 437.20 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 435.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 18,068. (Provisional)

Dixon Technologies (India) January 2026 futures traded at a premium of 83.00 points at 12263.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 12180.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 17,757. (Provisional)

Reliance Industries January 2026 futures traded at a premium of 10.30 points at 1583.20 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1572.90. The numbers of contracts traded were 14,967. (Provisional)

Among, Nifty calls, 26500 SP from the January month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 2,480 units open interests. Among Nifty puts, 26000 SP from the January month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 349 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 26000 SP (69,270 units) and that for Puts was at 26000 SP (90,673 units). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 26,191.60 -- Pivot Point 26,152.50 -- Support -- 26,107.45.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at (1.04) for January month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Petronet LNG (1.61), ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company (1.39), Alkem Laboratories (1.21), Bank of India (1.18) and LIC Housing Finance (1.13).

Among most active underlying ITC witnessed an addition of 27,953 units of Open Interest in the January month future, Vodafone Idea witnessed an addition of 3,379 units of Open Interest in the January month future, Indus Towers witnessed an addition of 1,927 units of Open Interest in the January month future, Reliance Industries witnessed an addition of 1,96,476 units of Open Interest in the January month futures and Dixon Technologies (India) witnessed an addition of 847 units of Open Interest in the January month futures. (Provisional).