More Stories

Informist, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025

 

By Arya S. Biju

 

MUMBAI – The benchmark equity indices closed higher, snapping a four-day fall and mirroring a rise in their Asian and US peers after lower-than-expected US inflation print fuelled expectations of a softer stance by the US Federal Reserve. However, both indices ended lower on a weekly basis as a weak rupee and the delay in the long-awaited India-US trade deal continued to put pressure at higher levels.

 

The Nifty 50 settled at 25966.40, up 150.85 points or 0.5%. The BSE Sensex closed at 84929.36, up 447.55 points or 0.5%. A rise in financial services and automobile stocks, along with index heavyweights Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank moving higher, pushed the 50-stock index close to its psychologically crucial level of 26000 points, though it did not reach the mark.

 

Overnight, benchmark indices in the US closed higher as softer inflation data in November boosted expectations of a softer Fed stance despite concern about the reliability of the data, collected during the longest-ever federal government shutdown. Meanwhile, chipmaker Micron Technology's guidance signalled strong artificial intelligence demand.

 

Most Asian indices rose in early trade Friday, mirroring their peers on Wall Street. The Bank of Japan Friday raised its interest rates by 25 basis points to 0.75%, a three-decade high, while leaving the door wide open for further tightening. Following this, Japan's 10-year benchmark government bond yield surpassed the 2% mark for the first time since May 2006.

 

Friday, the Indian rupee posted its biggest single-day gain against the dollar in over three years, as the Reserve Bank of India unexpectedly stepped in to sell dollars heavily in the last few minutes of trade, dealers at the foreign exchange market said. The rupee settled at 89.2700 a dollar, against Thursday's close of 90.2400. With this, the rupee has now appreciated against the dollar for the third day in a row.

 

The domestic currency, however, is expected to remain volatile in the near term amid lingering concern about the delay in the India-US trade deal. The rupee's weakness against the dollar had been one of the primary reasons for the recent decline in the stock market. Both the Nifty 50 and the BSE Sensex have fallen nearly 1% each in the past four sessions.

 

The broader market indices closed 1.0-1.4% higher, outperforming the benchmarks and reflecting improved risk appetite. All the sectoral indices also closed higher with the Nifty Realty and Nifty Auto in the lead, up 1.2-1.7%. Most information technology stocks rose Friday after Accenture's better-than-expected first-quarter results and positive sentiment around Tata Consultancy Services after it outlined its strategy to become the world's largest artificial intelligence-led technology services firm. In a post-earnings investor call Thursday, however, the Accenture management highlighted that the pace of overall and discretionary spending was at the same level as in the previous year.

Most pharmaceutical companies rose Friday after US President Donald Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act for financial year 2025-26 (Oct-Sept), which includes the Biosecure Act, into law. Brokerage Macquarie expects the legislation to accelerate growth for Indian contract development and manufacturing organisations as US companies try to reduce drug production dependency on China. The Nifty Pharma index closed around 1% higher with most of its constituents ending in positive territory.

 

Among individual stocks, Shriram Finance came off its intraday low and closed nearly 4% higher after it said Japan's MUFG Bank would invest INR 396.18 billion to buy 20% stake in the non-banking finance company. Shares of ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co. closed around 19% higher at INR 2,576.20 on the National Stock Exchange after listing at a 20% premium to its issue price. 

 

* Of the Nifty 50 stocks, 43 rose and 7 fell

* Of the Sensex stocks, 26 rose and 4 fell

* On the NSE, 2,184 stocks rose, 939 fell, and 92 were unchanged

* On the BSE, 2,731 stocks rose, 1,445 fell, and 155 were unchanged

* Nifty Realty: up 1.7; Nifty Auto: up 1.2%; Nifty Consumer Durablers: up 0.04%

---

BSE                                                NSE

Sensex: 84929.36, up 447.55 points or 0.5%       Nifty 50: 25966.40, up 150.85 points or 0.6%

---

S&P BSE Sensitive Index	Nifty 50
Lifetime High: 86159.02 (Dec. 1, 2025)	: Lifetime High: 26325.80 (Dec. 1, 2025)
Record Close High: 85836.12 (Sept. 26, 2024)	: Record Close High: 26216.05 (Sept. 26, 2024)
2025 1st day close: 78507.41 (Jan. 1)	: 2025 1st day close: 23742.90 (Jan. 1)
2025 Closing High: 85720.38 (Nov. 27)	: 2025 Closing High: 26215.55 (Nov. 27)
2025 Closing Low: 72989.93 (Mar. 4)	: 2025 Closing Low: 22082.65 (Mar. 4)
2025 High (intraday): 86159.02 (Dec. 1)	: 2025 High (intraday): 26325.80 (Dec.1)
2025 Low (intraday): 71425.01 (Apr. 7)	: 2025 Low (intraday): 21743.65 (Apr. 7)
2024 1st day close: 72271.94 (Jan. 1)	: 2024 1st day close: 21741.90 (Jan. 1)
2024 Closing High: 85836.12 (Sept. 26)	: 2024 Closing High: 26216.05 (Sept. 26)
2024 Closing Low: 70370.55 (Jan. 23)	: 2024 Closing Low: 21238.80 (Jan. 23)
2024 High (intraday): 85978.25 (Sep. 27)	: 2024 High (intraday): 26277.35 (Sept. 27)
2024 Low (intraday): 70001.60 (Jan. 24)	: 2024 Low (intraday): 21137.20 (Jan. 24)
2023 1st day close: 61167.79 (Jan. 2)	: 2023 1st day close: 18197.45 (Jan. 2)
2023 Closing High: 72410.38 (Dec. 28)	: 2023 Closing High: 21778.70 (Dec. 28)
2023 Closing Low: 59288.35 (Feb. 27)	: 2023 Closing Low: 17311.80 (Oct. 17)
2023 High (intraday): 72484.34 (Dec. 28)	: 2023 High (intraday): 21801.45 (Dec. 28)
2023 Low (intraday): 58699.20 (Jan. 30)	: 2023 Low (intraday): 17098.55 (Jan. 17)
2022 1st day close: 59183.22 (Jan. 3)	: 2022 1st day close: 17625.70 (Jan. 3)
2022 Closing High: 63284.19 (Dec. 1)	: 2022 Closing High: 18812.50 (Dec. 1)
2022 Closing Low: 51360.42 (Jun. 17)	: 2022 Closing Low: 15293.50 (Jun. 17)
2022 High (intraday): 63583.07 (Dec. 1)	: 2022 High (intraday): 18887.60 (Dec. 1)
2022 Low (intraday): 50921.22 (Jun. 17)	: 2022 Low (intraday): 15183.40 (Jun. 17)
2021 Closing High: 61305.95 (Oct. 14)	: 2021 Closing High: 18338.55 (Oct. 14)
2021 Closing Low: 46285.77 (Jan. 29)	: 2021 Closing Low: 13634.60 (Jan. 29)
2021 High (intraday): 61353.25 (Oct. 14)	: 2021 High (intraday): 18350.75 (Oct. 14)
2021 Low (intraday): 46160.46 (Jan. 29)	: 2021 Low (intraday): 13596.75 (Jan. 29)
2020 Closing High: 47751.33 (Dec. 31)	: 2020 Closing High: 13981.95 (Dec. 30)
2020 Closing Low: 25981.24 (Mar. 23)	: 2020 Closing Low: 7610.25 (Mar. 23)
2020 High (intraday): 47896.97 (Dec. 31)	: 2020 High (intraday): 14024.85 (Dec. 31)
2020 Low (intraday): 25638.90 (Mar. 24)	: 2020 Low (intraday): 7511.10 (Mar. 24)
2019 High (intraday): 41809.96 (Dec. 20)	: 2019 High (intraday): 12293.90 (Dec. 20)
2019 Low (intraday): 35287.16 (Feb. 19)	: 2019 Low (intraday): 10583.65 (Jan. 29)
2018 High (intraday): 38938.91(Aug. 28))	: 2018 High(intraday): 11760.20 (Aug. 28)
2018 Low (intraday): 32483.8 (Mar. 23)	: 2018 Low (intraday): 9951.9 (Mar. 23)
2017 High (intraday): 34005.37 (Dec. 26)	: 2017 High(intraday): 10515.10 (Dec. 26)

---

End

 

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.