Mumbai, Dec 26 (NationPress) The Indian benchmark stock indices began the day on a flat note, showing a slight negative inclination as they seem to be in a consolidation phase due to a lack of significant cues.

At 9:30 AM, the Sensex declined by 83 points, or 0.09 percent, settling at 85,325, while the Nifty fell by 17 points, or 0.06 percent, reaching 26,124.

Notably, the main broadcap indices outperformed the benchmark indices, with the Nifty Midcap 100 gaining 0.35 percent and the Nifty Smallcap 100 increasing by 0.27 percent.

Among the prominent gainers in the Nifty Pack were Cipla, Dr. Reddy's Labs, and ONGC, while the laggards included Shriram Finance, Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel, Max Healthcare, and TCS.

The sectoral gainers saw the Nifty Consumer Durables index leading with a rise of 0.4 percent, followed closely by the Nifty Metal and Nifty Chemicals indices, both gaining 0.3 percent.

The Nifty may push upward towards resistance at 26,202 and 26,330, while a support level is expected around 26,000.

With only a few trading days remaining in 2025, what initially appeared to be a Santa rally is seemingly losing momentum as markets consolidate without fresh triggers like a potential US-India trade agreement, analysts commented.

The US GDP growth of 4.3 percent in Q3 2025 is boosting the US market's resilience, and the growing profitability of US companies, notably in the AI sector, may encourage foreign institutional investors (FIIs), particularly agile hedge funds, to ramp up their investments.

Market observers noted that continued buying by the cash-rich domestic institutional investors (DIIs) will provide support and stave off a steep decline, with expectations of a market rally in early 2026, emphasizing the importance of valuation in investment decisions.

The Asia-Pacific markets were mostly higher in the morning session, though several indexes were closed due to the Boxing Day holiday.

In the Asian markets, China's Shanghai index rose by 0.17 percent, while Shenzhen increased by 0.31 percent. Japan's Nikkei gained 0.99 percent, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index also saw an uptick of 0.17 percent. South Korea's Kospi rose by 0.7 percent.

The US markets concluded mostly positive on the last trading day, with Nasdaq climbing 0.22 percent, the S&P 500 up by 0.32 percent, and the Dow increasing by 0.6 percent.

On December 24, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 1,721 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers of equities amounting to Rs 2,381 crore.