equity benchmarks opened higher on Friday, recovering from the previous day’s sharp decline triggered by bribery allegations against Gautam Adaniwith financial stocks leading the gains amid positive global cues.
Sensex opened higher at 77,349.74 from its previous close of 77,155.79 and has continued to advance, trading at 77,459.18 as of 9.50 AM, up by 303.39 points or 0.39 per cent. Nifty opened at 23,411.80 against its previous close of 23,349.90 and is currently at 23,439.00, gaining 89.10 points or 0.38 per cent.
HDFC Life emerged as the top gainer on the Nifty, rising 1.96 per cent, followed by State Bank of India (1.90 percent), IndusInd Bank (1.68 percent), Apollo Hospitals (1.60 per cent), and Power Grid Corporation (1.47 per cent). On the flip side, Adani Ports led the losses, falling 1.18 per cent, followed by Adani Enterprises (-1.09 percent), Axis Bank (-0.41 percent), Mahindra & Mahindra (-0.08 per cent), and Britannia Industries (-0.01 per cent).
The market recovery comes after the Adani Group witnessed its sharpest decline since the Hindenburg controversy, losing ₹2.2 lakh crore in market capitalization on Thursday. “The market has corrected only by about 11 percent from the September peak. This is a correction, not a crash,” said Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued their selling spree, offloading equities worth over ₹5,300 crore on November 21, marking their 37th consecutive day of selling. However, domestic institutional investors provided support by purchasing equities worth ₹4,200 crore.
Global markets provided positive cues, with US stocks closing higher on Thursday, driven by strong earnings from Nvidia Corp and optimism around the holiday shopping season. Asian markets followed suit, with most indices trading higher on Friday.
“The mother market US is bullish with 25.43 per cent return YTD. These factors suggest that the undertone of this market is positive,” Vijayakumar added.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict escalation has pushed oil prices above $74 per barrel, while gold prices remained elevated above $2,660 an ounce. “If Ukraine directs its focus on Russian oil facilities, this could significantly disrupt Russia’s oil supply chain,” noted Rahul Kalantri, VP Commodities at Mehta Equities.
On the technical front, Akshay Chinchalkar, Head of Research at Axis Securities, said, “With the Nifty falling to a new low for this decline, the focus is now squarely on a major node near 23,200.”
In other market developments, Goldman Sachs has forecast India’s GDP growth to slow to 6.3 per cent year-on-year in 2025, citing continued fiscal consolidation and slower credit growth due to macro-prudential measures by the Reserve Bank of India.
The cryptocurrency market saw Bitcoin prices surge to nearly $98,790 following news that SEC Chair Gary Gensler would exit his post in January.
The India VIX, which measures market volatility, traded at 15.99 after rising 2.09 per cent in the previous session, indicating continued market uncertainty.
In corporate news, SJVN signed an MoU with the Rajasthan government’s Energy Department to develop 5 GW of pumped storage projects and 2 GW of floating solar projects, while Tata Power and ADB signed a $4.25 billion MoU for renewable energy projects.