Mumbai’s vibrant trading halls, from the BSE’s bell to the NSE’s neon glow, opened with an aura of unhurried assurance on December 22, 2025, as the India VIX—the barometer of market trepidation—settled at 12.95, a whisper-soft 0.1 percent decline from the prior session’s 12.98, evoking a sense of serene stability amid year-end reflections. This subdued signal, computed from the NSE’s forward-looking 30-day implied volatility on Nifty 50 options, mirrored a trading volume of 1.9 lakh contracts valued at Rs 1,650 crore, underscoring a market mellowing its mid-December move