Nifty ends marginally higher on Friday

16 Jan 2026 Evaluate

Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty ended marginally higher on Friday. Index made a positive start following broadly positive cues from other Asian markets. Soon, index gained traction and continued its firm trade. Sentiments got a boost as the World Bank raised India's GDP growth forecast to 7.2 per cent for the current fiscal, up by 0.9 percentage points from its June projections, on the back of robust domestic demand and tax reforms. Meanwhile, traders took some support with Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrwal’s statement that India and the EU are very close to concluding negotiations on the proposed free trade agreement (FTA), with discussions underway to resolve remaining issues so that the deal is ready for announcement during the visit of top leadership later this month. However, in afternoon session, index trimmed most of its gains as market participants opted to book profit at higher level. In last leg of the trade, market continued its lacklustre trade near neutral line. Finally, Nifty ended near to 25,700 mark.

Traders were seen piling up positions in IT, PSU Bank and Private Bank stocks, while selling was witnessed in Pharma, Consumer Durables and Metal. The top gainers from the F&O segment were The Federal Bank, Angel One and Infosys. On the other hand, the top losers were Patanjali Foods, Hitachi Energy India and Eternal. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 25900 - 26100 calls and 25900 - 26100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short-term expectation of volatility increased by 0.46% and reached 11.37. The 50 share Nifty up by 28.75 point or 0.11% to settle at 25,694.35.

Nifty January 2026 futures closed at 25749.40 (LTP) on Friday, at a premium of 55.05 points over spot closing of 25694.35, while Nifty February 2026 futures ended at 25890.00 (LTP), at a premium of 195.65 points over spot closing. Nifty January futures saw a contraction of 2,275 units, taking the total open interest (Contracts) to 2,59,489 units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on January 27, 2026. (Provisional)

From the most active contracts, Infosys January 2026 futures traded at a premium of 1.40 points at 1690.50 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 1689.10. The numbers of contracts traded were 70,454. (Provisional)

HDFC Bank January 2026 futures traded at a premium of 2.95 points at 933.50 (LTP) co

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