NIFTY50, SENSEX on October 16: US market cues, FII activity, key things to know before markets open

The Indian equity markets are set to open higher on Thursday, October 16, as indicated by GIFT NIFTY futures. NIFTY futures at GIFT City in Ahmedabad rose 63 points or 0.25% to 25,463 amid strong cues from other Asian markets. The Indian equity benchmarks snapped their two-day losing streak on Wednesday on the back of strong global cues as expectations of a US Fed rate cut lifted sentiment and surpassed tensions over US-China trade tensions.

Asian markets

Asian markets were trading higher with Japan's Nikkei rising 0.84% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng advancing 0.13%. Singapore's Straits Times fell 0.42%, South Korea's KOSPI surged 1.75% and China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.21%.

Wall Street update

Overnight, US stocks managed to close higher after swinging between gains and losses as technology stocks helped lead the way following a better-than-expected profit report from ASML, a major supplier to the semiconductor industry. It expects its revenue for 2025 to be 15% above last year’s, while next year’s should be at least as high as this year’s, news agency AP reported.

The S&P 500 advanced 0.4%, Dow Jones ended marginally lower by 0.04% and tech heavy Nasdaq climbed 0.66%.

FII/DII activity

Foreign institutional investors bought shares worth ₹69 crore on Wednesday while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth ₹4,650 crore, data from the National Stock Exchange showed.

The FIIs have so far this month bought shares worth ₹3,631 crore and for the calendar year they have been net sellers to the tune of ₹1,50,889 crore, according to the data from National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL).

Stocks to Watch

Axis Bank's net interest income (NII), or the difference between interest earned on loans and expended on deposits, rose nearly 2% to ₹13,744 crore from ₹13,483 crore.

The company’s net profit for the quarter ended September 30, 2025, stood at ₹581 crore, down 1.69% from the ₹591 crore reported in the same quarter last year. Revenue for the period increased 6.19% YoY to ₹6,083 crore, compared with ₹5,728 crore recorded in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Its revenue from operations advanced 16% to ₹1,026 crore from ₹887 crore in the year-ago period.

The company's total expenses during the quarter rose 24% to ₹246 crore from ₹199 crore in the year-ago period.

The company had reported a net loss of ₹85.17 crore in the July-September quarter a year ago, according to a regulatory filing from Nuvoco Vistas Corporation.

The company's revenue from operations increased by 8.33% to ₹2,457.57 crore in the September quarter.t was at ₹2,268.58 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago. Meanwhile, total expenses of Nuvoco Vistas were at ₹2,410.27 crore, marginally up in the September quarter of FY26.

Under its 2030 roadmap for India, Hyundai Motor Co. President & CEO Jose Muñoz on Wednesday said the company's sales finance arm, Hyundai Capital, will enter the country by Q2 2026 in a phased manner to help further drive sales, while its luxury brand Genesis will also foray into the market through local assembly by 2027.

Trade setup

On the technical front, market participants are waiting for the index to close above the crucial swing high trendline resistance level for a weekly close. The index has taken strong resistance at these levels. According to the experts, a weekly breakout above these levels could spur bullish momentum in the markets.

On the options data front, the 25,300 puts hold the highest open interest, indicating a strong support level for the coming weekly expiry. On the upside, the 25,500 calls hold the highest open interest, indicating a strong resistance for the index.