Mumbai, Dec 19: Indian stock markets opened on a positive note on Friday, taking cues from supportive global markets, even as benchmark indices remained on track to close the week in the red for the third consecutive session.

In early trade, the Sensex was trading at 84,866.06, up 384.25 points or 0.45 per cent at around 9:20 AM.

The Nifty index was also higher, quoting at 25,926.90, up 104 points or 0.4 per cent. The index continues to trade within the 25,700–25,900 range, reflecting trader indecision.

“Immediate resistance is placed at 25,900–26,000, while key supports are seen at 25,700 and 25,600,” analysts said.

Buying interest was seen in several heavyweight stocks. Shares of TMPV, Eternal, Infosys, Power Grid, BEL, Sun Pharma, and Bajaj Finserv gained up to 1.5 per cent and emerged as the top performers on the Sensex.

On the other hand, ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel were the only stocks trading in the red during early deals.

Sectorally, all indices were trading higher. The Nifty Healthcare index led the gains, rising 1.14 per cent, followed closely by the Nifty Pharma index, which was up 1.1 per cent.

The Nifty Auto index also gained around 0.5 to 0.57 per cent.

The broader markets mirrored the positive sentiment, with the Nifty Midcap index gaining 0.45 per cent, while the Nifty Smallcap index was up 0.47 per cent.

Meanwhile, investors remain cautious ahead of several key global and domestic triggers.

Globally, market participants are keeping an eye on retail sales data from the UK, wage tracker data from the euro area, and the US Federal Reserve’s balance sheet numbers. On the domestic front, investors are awaiting the Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting minutes and the latest foreign exchange reserve data.

In terms of institutional activity, foreign institutional investors turned net buyers, purchasing shares worth Rs 614.26 crore on Thursday.

Domestic institutional investors also supported the market, with net purchases of Rs 2,525.98 crore during the same session.

Mumbai, Dec 18: The unified payments interface (UPI) transaction volumes rose 33.5 per cent (year-on-year) to 59.33 billion transactions in the July-September period, as transaction value grew 21 per cent to Rs 74.84 lakh crore, a report showed on Thursday.

India reached 709 million active UPI QRs, marking a 21 per cent increase since July 2024. Dense QR acceptance across kiranas, pharmacies, transport hubs, and rural markets has made scan-and-pay the default payment mode nationwide, according to the report by Worldline India.

Person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions continued to outpace person-to-person (P2P), reflecting UPI’s dominance in everyday retail payments.

P2M transactions were up 35 per cent to 37.46 billion transactions while P2P transactions rose 29 per cent to 21.65 billion transactions, the report said.

The third quarter (Q3 2025) further reinforced India’s position as the world’s most dynamic real-time payments economy — where every scan, tap, and click is reshaping consumer and merchant behaviour.

The average ticket size declined to Rs 1,262 (from Rs 1,363), highlighting increased usage for micro-transactions such as mobility, food, healthcare essentials, and hyperlocal commerce.

Point of sale (PoS) terminals grew 35 per cent to 12.12 million (July 2024–July 2025). Bharat QR stood at 6.10 million, witnessing marginal decline amid the shift toward UPI QR dominance.

Private banks led acceptance deployment, accounting for 84 per cent market share. While credit card issuance grew by 8 per cent (on-year) to 113.39 million cards, debit cards reached 1.02 billion and prepaid cards stood at 470.1 million.

Credit card transactions grew 26 per cent to 1.45 billion, with transaction value at Rs 6.07 lakh crore. Debit card transactions declined 22 per cent, reflecting migration of low-ticket spends to UPI, the report showed.

Mobile and tap-based payments continued to accelerate, with contactless adoption gaining momentum across metros, mobility services, and quick-service retail.

“The outlook for Q4 2025 and early 2026 points to accelerated innovation and deeper ecosystem integration. Interoperable QR is expected to move from pilot phases to everyday usage across mobility, healthcare, fuel stations, and public utilities—delivering a unified scan-and-pay experience,” the report mentioned.

New Delhi, Dec 17: Geopolitical uncertainties driven by the delay in the India-US trade deal have been the single-most important reasons for the rupee sliding against the US dollar, an SBI Research report said on Wednesday, adding that the rupee is likely to bounce back strongly in the second half of the next fiscal.

India’s trade data shows the remarkable resilience in navigating through prolonged uncertainty, more protectionism and labour supply shocks.

“While the geopolitical risk index has moderated since April 2025, the current average value of the index for April-October 2025 is much greater than its decadal average, which indicates how much pressure global uncertainties are exerting on INR,” State Bank of India’s (SBI) Group Chief Economic Advisor, Dr Soumya Kanti Ghosh, said.

Dr Ghosh further stated that consistent with their empirical analysis, “the rupee is currently in a depreciating regime and is likely to exit it”.

After breaching the psychologically important mark of 90 per US dollar, the rupee crossed the 91-level on Tuesday.

However, the rupee staged a sharp recovery on Wednesday, trading as strong as 90.25 during the day, as the cooling of crude prices also contributed to improved sentiment.

According to the SBI report, the data also indicates that the current fall is the quickest (in terms of number of days) of the rupee, scaled to 5 per USD. In less than a year, the rupee has slid from 85 to 90 per dollar.

The current slide appears to be primarily driven by FPI outflows, chiefly equities (after two years of robust inflows) and uncertainty regarding the US-India trade deal.

Since April 2, 2025, when the US announced sweeping tariff hikes across economies, the Indian rupee (INR) has depreciated by 5.7 per cent against USD (most amongst the major economies), notwithstanding sporadic phases of appreciation owing to optimism over the US-India trade deal.

“While INR is the most depreciated currency, it is not the most volatile. This clearly indicates that the 50 per cent tariff imposed on India is one of the major factors behind the current phase of rupee depreciation,” the SBI report noted.