On the first day of 2026, the rupee is down, the stock market is upbeat; here's how gold and silver are doing

The year 2026 has begun. In terms of the financial sector, the stock market appears to be on a positive note. Meanwhile, the rupee is declining. Gold and silver are trading flat. Significantly, the rupee has disappointed investors in 2025. 

Last year, the rupee depreciated by approximately 5%. While the stock market yielded no significant gains for investors, the Nifty rose by 10%. The Sensex returned approximately 9%. Meanwhile, gold and silver have made investors rich. 

Gold and silver prices have not seen such a surge in the past 50 years. But now the question is 2026. All three have started the year on its own terms. Let's try to understand, using data, how the first day of the year began for these three assets.

Stock market starts on a positive note

The stock market has made a positive start to the first day of 2026. Both the Sensex and Nifty are seeing strong gains. The Bombay Stock Exchange's key index, the Sensex, rose 223.54 points to trade at 85,444.14. Meanwhile, the National Stock Exchange's key index, the Nifty, gained 65.75 points to reach 26,195.35.

Among the Sensex stocks, InterGlobe Aviation, Mahindra & Mahindra, Eternal, Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro, and UltraTech Cement were the biggest gainers. 

Meanwhile, ITC, Bharat Electronics, Trent, and Bajaj Finance were among the losers. Asian markets will be closed on Thursday, while US markets closed lower on Wednesday.

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In the international market, Brent crude oil from Gulf countries fell by 0.78 percent to $60.85 per barrel. According to stock market data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers on Wednesday, selling shares worth Rs 3,597.38 crore. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 6,759.64 crore.

The rupee started with a fall.

2025 may have ended, but the rupee's decline hasn't stopped; the first day of 2026 also saw the rupee decline. It fell 11 paise to 89.99 against the dollar. Continued foreign capital outflows, coupled with a negative start to the new year, have the rupee in the red. 

Foreign currency traders note that the rupee enters 2026 with both challenges and security. Global uncertainty persists, but India's strong macroeconomic factors and substantial foreign exchange reserves will continue to provide stability.

The rupee opened at 89.94 against the US dollar in the interbank foreign currency exchange market. It then weakened slightly to 89.99, a decline of 11 paise from its previous close. 

The rupee had closed at 89.88 against the US dollar on Wednesday, the last trading session of 2025. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the dollar's strength against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.09 percent to 98.32.

How are the prices of gold and silver moving?

Both gold and silver are trading sluggishly on the Multi Commodity Exchange, the country's futures market. Gold is trading at ₹1,35,225 per ten grams at 10:30 am, down ₹222. 

During the trading session, gold reached a low of ₹1,35,208. However, a day earlier, gold prices had seen a significant decline, reaching ₹1,35,447.

Meanwhile, silver prices are also declining in the futures market. According to data, silver is trading at ₹234,921 per kilogram, down ₹780 at 10:30 am. 

Silver had previously fallen by ₹850 to ₹234,855 during the trading session, reaching its lowest level of the day. On the last trading day of last year, silver had closed at ₹235,701, a significant decline.

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