More Stories

Informist, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026

By Gopika Balasubramanium

MUMBAI – Analysts expect the Nifty 50 to be within a range of 26000-26200 points in the near term, however, they maintained their bullish sentiment. Premiums across the options chain fell indicating near term consolidation in the market. Some analysts expect the traders to change positions ahead of two major events, that is, the December quarter earnings and the Union Budget. The Street expects the December quarter earnings to be better than the previous two quarters of the current financial year. 

Thursday, the Nifty 50 fell nearly 17 points to end at 26146.55 points. Some analysts said the volume during the new year's session was less than half of average daily volume, indicating low market participation. Equity markets at regions such as the US, Asia, and Europe are shut on account of New Year's eve. 

In the options chain, selling was evident across both the put and call side. Traders wrote out-of-the-money call options at 26200 strike the most, with the premiums declining nearly 31%. Traders added maximum open interest at 26200 strike and the total number of contracts were 12.36 million. Meanwhile, on the put side, traders wrote contracts with 26000 strike aggressively. The open interest at this strike increased sharply to 15.40 million.  

Put writers were most active from 26000-26100 strike, which will act as support to Nifty 50, Ashish Sherigar, technical and derivatives analyst at NVS Brokerage said. Open interest at 26200 strike rose the most, indicating that the Nifty 50 will face strong resistance there at that level, he added. The Nifty 50 is expected in a thin range, and a breakout on either side will decide the direction in the coming trading sessions, Sherigar said. The sentiment in the market remains bullish as the put-call ratio is at 1.09 as of Wednesday, he added. 

--Nifty 50 January closed at 26291.00, down 5.30 points; 144.45-point premium to the spot index
--Nifty 50 February closed at 26430.00, down 8 points; 283.45-point premium to the spot index

--Nifty 50 March closed at 26620.90, up 3.80 points; 474.35-point premium to the spot index

"We expect Nifty to move beyond the prevailing range of last two months of 25800-26300 in the January series," ICICI Direct said in a report. Moreover, due to upcoming quarterly results and Union budget, volatility to rise from current levels, the brokerage said. Rollover data remains healthy, indicating continued participation and no signs of aggressive position unwinding, which supports the broader market stability going into the January series, it added. 

ITC, Vodafone Idea, Indus Towers, Reliance Industries, Dixon Technologies (India), Bajaj Finance, Ashok Leyland, REC, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Shriram Finance, Bajaj Auto, IndusInd Bank, InterGlobe Aviation, Canara Bank, Adani Enterprises, Multi Commodity Exchange of India, State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, and Tata Steel were the most actively traded underlying stocks Thursday. End

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

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. 2026. All rights reserved.