Nifty and Sensex: Due to the lack of significant triggers and broad holiday-led lethargy, Indian equities indexes began on a neutral note on Monday amid low year-end volumes. Markets are predicted to stay flat to negative.

The BSE Sensex started the day at 85,004.75, down 36.70 points, or 0.04 percent, while the Nifty 50 index opened at 26,063.35, up 21.05 points, or 0.08 percent.

As the year comes to an end, most traders are on holiday, according to market analysts, thus trading activity is muted.

“The final three days of a year full of events are here,” Banking and Market Expert Ajay Bagga told ANI. Since the majority of working people are on year-end holidays, volumes are down. Even though the India VIX has remained at historically low levels in the single digits, there may be some volatility on Tuesday due to the December index expiration for two important indices in Indian markets. A solid setup for a bullish advance at some point is that the overbought markets have become neutral to the oversold markets. For the time being, we anticipate flat to negative markets this week due to low volumes and a lack of triggers.

“Later in January 2026, Indian markets will begin to benefit from the triple positive catalysts of the Union Budget 2026, the recovery of Q3 FY2026 corporate earnings, and the advancement of the US-India trade deal,” he said. The main markets for the stock markets this week will be low volumes, which means that profit booking and a lack of desire to initiate new positions during a uniform holiday period will be the main factors.

The Nifty Midcap 100 had a 0.07 percent decline in the National Stock Exchange’s overall market, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 saw a 0.06 percent gain.

On the NSE, sectoral performance was inconsistent. While the Nifty IT, FMCG, Pharma, and PSU Bank indices saw negative trading, the Nifty Auto index saw a tiny increase of 0.02 percent. With a 0.65% increase, Nifty Metal outpaced other sectors.

There is probably going to be no ‘Santa rally’ at the end of the year. Across all asset groups, copper and precious metals are doing the heavy lifting.

Silver has risen to third place among assets, behind only gold and Nvidia, after briefly touching USD 80 during Asian trade. Gold was trading flat on Monday morning after yet another record high last week.

As the year comes to an end, the Nifty is trading close to its All-Time High (ATH), but significant FII selling is still depressing the market, according to Sunil Gurjar, an analyst registered with SEBI and the founder of Alphamojo Financial Services. A significant bullish surge may occur if the index breaks over the 26,250 mark. Even while the Nifty has only increased by around 10% this year, it is technically solid, trading above all significant moving averages, and strong relative growth in several industries points to ongoing buyer enthusiasm.

Experts predict that markets will end 2025 flat and start 2026 with subdued momentum due to a lack of economic data flow, low volumes, Christmas joy, and good performance from copper and precious metals.