NIFTY50, SENSEX on September 29: Asian market cues, FII activity, key things to know before markets open

The Indian equity markets are set to open higher as indicated by GIFT NIFTY futures. NIFTY futures at GIFT City in Ahmedabad rose 95 points or 0.38% to 24,800 amid mixed cues from Asian markets.

The benchmarks fell for a sixth straight session on Friday on the back of a broad-based selling pressure as investor sentiment took a knock after US President Donald Trump threatened fresh tariffs on pharmaceutical products.

The SENSEX fell as much as 827 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 24,629. The SENSEX ended 733 points lower at 80,426 and NIFTY50 index dropped 236 points to close at 24,655.

In the last six trading session, the SENSEX has dropped as much as 2.78% and NIFTY50 index has plunged 2.75%.

Asian markets

Barring Japan, most of the Asian markets were trading on higher on Monday. Japan's Nikkei dropped 0.7%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 1.05%, South Korea's KPSPI rose 1.2% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index advanced 0.62%.

Investors were bracing for a possible US government shutdown which could delay publication of September payrolls data and other key economic data.

Reuters reported that President Donald Trump will meet with the top Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress later on Monday to discuss extending government funding. Without a deal a shutdown would begin from Wednesday, which is also when new US tariffs on heavy trucks, pharmaceuticals and other items go into effect.

US markets

US markets ended higher on Friday as they snapped three-day losing streak after a report showed that inflation is behaving roughly as economists expected, even if it’s still high, AP reported.

The Dow Jones rose 0.65%, S&P 500 climbed 0.59% and tech heavy Nasdaq gained 0.44%.

FII/DII activity

Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth ₹5,688 crore on Friday while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth ₹5,843 crore, data from the National Stock Exchange showed.

The FIIs have so far this month sold shares worth ₹17,551 crore and for the calendar year they have been net sellers to the tune of ₹1,48,146 crore, according to the data from National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL).

RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meet

Reserve Bank of India's three-day Monetary Policy Committee meeting headed by Governor Sanjay Malhotra will begin today in the backdrop of the ongoing geopolitical tensions and the US imposing 50% tariffs on Indian merchandise.

The decision will be announced on Wednesday. The RBI reduced the key short-term lending rate (repo) by 100 basis points in three tranches beginning in February, amid declining consumer price index (CPI) based inflation.

A report by SBI Research stated that there is merit and rationale for the RBI to reduce the key benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points in the forthcoming monetary policy, as retail inflation is expected to remain benign even in the next financial year.

Stocks to watch

Sunteck Realty will develop these ultra-luxury housing projects under a by-invite-only real estate lifestyle brand, 'Emaance'.

The loan will come from a commercial bank, backed by the Department for Business and Trade’s (DBT) Export Development Guarantee (EDG), provided by export credit agency UK Export Finance, to be paid back over five years.

The aim is to bolster JLR’s cash reserves following the production shutdown since early this month in the wake of the hack to help support firms in the supply chain, many of them small and medium enterprises (SMEs) struggling to stay afloat.

"With the revised GST rates, approximately 40% of our portfolio including Toilet Soap, Toothpaste, Shampoo, Hair Oil, Talcum Powder, Lifestyle Nutrition and other Foods now benefit from a reduced GST rate of 5%, down from the previous GST rates of 12% or 18%," HUL said in an exchange filing.