The domestic equity benchmarks ended with modest losses today as investors booked profits in select heavyweights amid heightened geopolitical tensions following U.S. military action in Venezuela and the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife.
The Nifty settled near the 26,250 mark. Realty, consumer durables and FMCG shares advanced while IT, oil & gas and pharma shares declined.
As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex tanked 322.39 points or 0.38% to 85,439.62. The Nifty 50 index dropped 78.25 points or 0.30% to 26,250.30.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.05% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.07%.
The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,607 shares rose and 2,568 shares fell. A total of 222 shares were unchanged.
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, surged 6.05% to 10.02.
US–Venezuela situation:
The U.S. launched a military operation in Venezuela over the weekend, resulting in the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. The couple is set to appear before a New York court on drug-related charges. President Donald Trump stated that the U.S. is now in control of Venezuela and warned of potential further military action. The UN Security Council is scheduled to meet today to discuss the U.S. intervention, which UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called a dangerous precedent.
Economy:
India’s foreign exchange reserves increased by $3.29 billion to $696.61 billion in the week ended December 26, 2025, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s Weekly Statistical Supplement released on January 2.
Foreign currency assets (FCAs), the largest component of the reserves, stood at $559.61 billion, registering a marginal weekly increase of $184 million, the data showed.
Gold reserves increased sharply by $2.96 billion during the week to $113.32 billion, contributing the most to the overall rise in reserves.
India’s Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) with the International Monetary Fund rose by $60 million to $18.80 billion. The country’s reserve position in the IMF increased by $93 million to $4.88 billion as of December 26.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty IT index declined 1.43% to 37,771.15. The index rallied 1.15% in the past two consecutive trading sessions.
Wipro (down 2.08%), HCL Technologies (down 2.08%), Infosys (down 2.08%), Persistent Systems (down 1.37%) and Tata Consultancy Services (down 1.11%), Tech Mahindra (down 0.96%), Oracle Financial Services Software (down 0.74%), Coforge (down 0.57%), Mphasis (down 0.22%) declined.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Corona Remedies added 1.44% after it reported a 21.75% increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 52.32 crore on 15.05% rise in revenue from operations to Rs 361.13 crore in Q2 FY26 over Q2 FY25.
NIBE surged 4.17% after it secured a domestic defence contract worth Rs 292.69 crore from the Indian Army under the Ministry of Defence, Government of India.
Jammu & Kashmir Bank added 0.98%. The bank's gross advances jumped 17.26% to Rs 1,16,247.92 crore as of 31 December 2025, compared with Rs 99,133.35 crore as of 31 December 2024.
Bank of Maharashtra rose 0.03%. The bank reported a 15.30% year-on-year (YoY) increase in total deposits to Rs 3,21,695 crore as of 31st December 2025, compared with Rs 2,79,007 crore as of 31st December 2024.
V-Mart Retail jumped 5.35% after the company’s revenue from operations for the quarter ended 31st December 2025 stood at Rs 1,126 crore, recording the growth of 10%, compared with Rs 1,027 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.
CSB Bank surged 13.77% after the bank’s total deposits climbed 21% to Rs 40,460 crore as on 31st December 2025, compared with Rs 33,407 crore as on 31st December 2024.
Global Markets:
European shares traded higher on Monday as global markets reacted to the U.S.-led overthrow of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
Asian market began the first full trading week of 2026 on a stronger note after the U.S. said it had attacked Venezuela and captured President Nicolas Maduro over the weekend.
Oil prices edged lower as markets weighed the potential impact of geopolitical tensions.
U.S. authorities reportedly said that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were flown to New York following the operation and charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy and other crimes.
Oil prices fell after the escalation involving the oil-rich nation. Brent crude prices slipped more than 1% earlier before paring losses and were last trading 0.25% lower, while the West Texas Intermediate crude prices fell 0.4%.
On Friday stateside, the first trading day of 2026, the S&P 500 closed slightly higher as gains in semiconductor names kept the index afloat.
The benchmark closed up 0.19% at 6,858.47, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.03% to finish at 23,235.63. The two had been solidly positive earlier in the day, with the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq trading higher by 0.7% and 1.5% at their peaks, respectively.