Daily Finance Pulse India - 26 December 2025
Indian and global markets reopen after the Christmas holiday with investors watching whether the ongoing US ‘Santa rally’ and steady Indian macro signals can extend 2025’s strong equity gains; stock market ahead for India on 2025-12-26: open; overall tone: neutral with a mild positive bias.
1/10
**Reopening: Indian markets resume trade after Christmas shutdown**
25 December 2025 · NSE and BSE were fully closed on 25 December for Christmas across equities, derivatives, currency and commodities, with trading and settlement to resume normally on Friday, 26 December 2025.[3][5][6][7]
Impact: Investors should be prepared for a catch-up session on 26 December as local markets price in one day of global moves and holiday-thin volumes.
2/10
**Pause: Sensex, Nifty slip before holiday but hold strong yearly gains**
25 December 2025 · Ahead of the Christmas break, the Sensex eased about 0.05% to 85,524.84 while the Nifty 50 inched up 0.02% to 26,177.15 on 23 December, as IT lagged and stocks like ITC, UltraTech Cement and Tata Steel outperformed.[2][3]
Impact: The flat close before the holiday suggests consolidation near record highs, giving traders key support and resistance reference points for 26 December.
3/10
**Outlook: Analysts see Nifty range-bound with buy-on-dips strategy**
24 December 2025 · Market strategists project Nifty support around 26,100 and resistance near 26,250–26,400, describing the near-term texture as non-directional but still within a broader uptrend, with a focus on private banks, metals and autos for relative strength.[1]
Impact: Short-term traders may favor level-based strategies, while positional investors continue to treat dips as opportunities as long as Nifty holds above key support.
4/10
**Seasonality: US ‘Santa rally’ lifts Wall Street to fresh records**
25 December 2025 · The traditional year-end ‘Santa rally’ is underway in the US, with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 jumping on the first day of the window, helped by AI-linked stocks and resilient economic growth, even as European and Asian indices show mixed performance.[4]
Impact: A strong US risk-on tone could support foreign inflows into Indian equities as trading resumes, especially in growth and technology themes.
5/10
**Holiday effect: Commodities and currency trading shut on Christmas in India**
25 December 2025 · The Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) and National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) were closed for both morning and evening sessions on 25 December, with no trading in agri and non-agri contracts, and currency markets also offline for the holiday.[2][3][7]
Impact: Commodity and forex participants should expect a resumption of normal price discovery on 26 December, with potential for slightly higher intraday volatility after the shutdown.
6/10
**Flows watch: Broader Indian markets mixed as smallcaps outperform**
25 December 2025 · On 23 December, the Nifty SmallCap 100 rose about 0.37% while the Nifty MidCap 100 was largely flat, indicating selective strength in smaller names even as benchmark indices traded sideways into the holiday.[2][3]
Impact: Portfolio reallocations toward quality small- and mid-caps may continue if risk appetite stays firm when markets reopen.
7/10
**Banks & markets: Christmas declared full banking and trading holiday in India**
24 December 2025 · Banks across many states and both major stock exchanges in India observed a full holiday on 25 December for Christmas, marking the final coordinated banking–market closure of 2025.[6][8]
Impact: Retail and corporate clients needed to plan fund transfers, settlements and margin payments around the synchronized bank and market closure, with activity bunching before and after 25 December.
8/10
**Forex: Rupee trading paused locally as major global FX centers shut for Christmas**
25 December 2025 · With Indian currency markets closed and major centers such as the US, UK and much of Europe also shut for Christmas, rupee trading against the dollar and other majors was largely on hold for the holiday.[3][7]
Impact: USD/INR is likely to pick up normal liquidity and tighter spreads only from 26 December, with any overnight global macro news reflected quickly in early trades.
9/10
**Commodities: MCX, NCDEX closure compresses near-term hedging window**
25 December 2025 · MCX and NCDEX remained fully closed on 25 December for Christmas, temporarily halting hedging and speculative activity in key contracts such as gold, crude oil and agricultural commodities until 26 December.[2][3][7]
Impact: Producers and importers/exporters relying on futures for price risk management may need to adjust positions quickly once trading restarts, especially if global commodity prices moved during the domestic holiday.
10/10
**Crypto: Digital-asset markets stay open as traditional exchanges close for Christmas**
25 December 2025 · While banks, stock exchanges and commodity bourses in India and many Western markets were shut for Christmas, major crypto venues continued trading uninterrupted, highlighting the 24/7 nature of digital-asset markets even during global holidays.[2][3][7]
Impact: Indian investors active in crypto faced normal price swings despite the domestic market holiday, underscoring the need for around-the-clock risk management in digital assets.