First Trade: Sensex adds 94 points, Nifty at 24,026; Nykaa gains over 5%

Indian equities in Monday's trade (January 6) tracking mixed Asian markets opened a tad higher. At the open, Sensex traded with gains of 0.12 per cent or 94.07 points at 79,317.18, while the Nifty50 index was up 0.09 per cent or 21.45 points at 24,026.2. Broader markets, however, outperformed the headline indices with slighly higher gains. 

Sectorally, on a mixed note, IT, Realty and Consumer Durables stocks traded with gains up to 0.9 per cent, while the PSU Bank and metal stocks emerged as the top laggards, with PSU Bank index last down 1.63 per cent.

Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services said, ""The market is likely to be influenced by the negative factors impacting FII flows and some positive domestic factors which can support the market. The external macro construct continues to be unfavourable with the dollar index at 109 and the 10-year US bond yield at 4.62%. The FIIs are likely to continue selling till the yields decline and the dollar stabilises.

Stocks in focus

ITC: ITC shares are in focus today as the company's scrip trades ex-demerger today. The special pre-opening session will be conducted in the stock for indirectly determining ITC Hotels price.

HDFC Bank: Shares of the private lender will be in focus after its Q3 business update. For the December quarter, the bank's loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) came in at 99.2 per cent, down from 100.76 per cent in the second quarter (Q2) of FY25 and 111.53 per cent in Q3 of 2023-24.

Bank of Baroda: In a quarterly business update, Bank of Baroda has reported an 11.7 per cent increase in its global business to Rs 25.64 lakh crore in the October-December period.

Nykaa: The fashion e-commerce company in its quarterly revenue update said that the company witnessed a strong performance in Q3 FY2025 with consolidated net revenue growth likely to be higher than mid-twenties.

Technical outlook

Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Financial Services said, "Bargain hunting did evolve on dips into the 24090-23960, which nearly retraced 50% of Thursday’s gains, but the take-off thereof failed to find momentum. This puts the trend evenly poised, bringing caution back. However, we will persist with the 24400-540-770 view, as long as above 23900/860."

Slippage past the same could see 23750 attracting prices lower, but favoured view does not see a collapse right away, he added.

Asian markets

The broader MSCI Asia ex Japan index traded higher with gains of 0.66 per cent at 572.8. Nonetheless, ahead of the major economic readings due to be released this week,most Asian stocks traded lower. Japan's Nikkei index was down 1.33 per cent, while Singapore's Straits Times was up by around 0.3 per cent.