NIFTY50, SENSEX today: Wall Street cues, FII activity, key things to know before markets open on December 29

The Indian equity benchmarks are set to open higher on Monday, December 29, as indicated by GIFT NIFTY futures. NIFTY futures at GIFT City in Ahmedabad advanced 0.11% or 28 points to 26,089 amid positive cues from Asian markets.

The Indian equity benchmarks extended their losing streak to second straight session on Friday, December 26, dragged down by losses in index heavyweights like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies and Infosys. The SENSEX fell as much as 471 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 26,008.60 amid lack of cues from global markets.

The SENSEX ended 367 points lower at 85,041 and NIFTY50 index declined 100 points to close at 26,042. For the week, SENSEX ended 0.13% higher and NIFTY50 index advanced 0.29%.

Asian markets

Asian markets were trading higher on expectations of a Fed rate cut next year which also sparked a rally in precious metals.

Silver climbed above the $80-per-ounce-mark for the first time before sliding sharply lower in volatile trading on Monday, while platinum and palladium also fell sharply after hitting all-time highs. Gold eased nearly 1% but has repeatedly breached record highs this year on dollar weakness, safe-haven demand and rate cut wagers, news agency Reuters reported.

Japan's Nikkei declined 0.4%, South Korea's KOSPI advanced 1.4%, China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.36% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed nearly 1%.

Wall Street update

US stocks closed near record highs on Friday amid muted trading owing to a post-Christmas trading session. The benchmarks ended little changed as Dow jones Industrial Average rose declined 0.04%, S&P 500 fell 0.03% and tech heavy Nasdaq slipped 0.09%.

FII/DII activity

Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth ₹318 crore on Friday while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth ₹1,773 crore, data from the National Stock Exchange showed.

The FIIs have so far this month sold shares worth ₹14,734 crore and for the calendar year they have been net sellers to the tune of ₹1,58,409 crore, according to the data from National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL).

Stocks to watch

The company has commenced deliveries across Coimbatore, Kochi, and Hyderabad, along with continued ramp-up in Bengaluru, Ola Electric said in a statement.

The S1 Pro+ (5.2 kWh) is the first product powered by the company's indigenously manufactured 4680 Bharat Cell battery pack, delivering more range, higher performance and enhanced safety, it added.

"Customers are now taking deliveries of the scooters powered by our own 4680 Bharat Cell, and the rollout is picking up strong momentum. With deliveries scaling across multiple states, we are now gearing up to take the 4680 Bharat Cell powered vehicles nationwide, reaching every corner of the country," an Ola Electric spokesperson said.

The move aims to streamline governance, enhance transparency and unlock value through asset monetisation in the coal PSU. Coal India Ltd (CIL) accounts for over 80 per cent of domestic coal output.

There are plans to list all of Coal India's subsidiaries by 2030, highly placed sources said on the condition of anonymity.

There is an instruction from PMO to list all the arms of Coal India by 2030 to improve the company's governance, sources said.

CIL operates through eight subsidiaries, namely Eastern Coalfields Ltd, Bharat Coking Coal Ltd, Central Coalfields Ltd, Western Coalfields Ltd, South Eastern Coalfields Ltd, Northern Coalfields Ltd, Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd and Central Mine Planning & Design Institute Ltd.

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists are drugs that treat type 2 diabetes, high blood sugar, and obesity by regulating insulin production.

India, known for its generic drug industry, is rapidly transforming into a major hub for the global weight management industry, amid rapid increase in obesity-led disease burden.

"Improving access to GLP-1 treatments in the coming years will be a key driver for the Indian pharmaceutical industry, helping address the growing burden of lifestyle diseases such as obesity and diabetes," Ganorkar told PTI.

Besides GMR, Bengaluru International Airport Ltd – Tamasuk consortium, Turkey’s TAV Airports – Mada International Holding consortium, Irish company Daa International-led consortium, and Kalyon Insaat consortium, were qualified for the project bidding.

The project will be taken up under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model under a Build-Transfer-Operate (BTO) contract for a period of 30 years including the construction period.

The new Taif International Airport will include a well-equipped commercial passenger terminal building aligned with the airport's projected capacity and demand, along with facility buildings, utility networks, car parks, and access roads that enable the standard operation of the airport.

The airline has also cancelled 13 flights, as of now, for Sunday, with two of them for "operational reasons", and the remaining largely due to "forecasted bad weather".

The Gurugram-headquartered IndiGo, which cancelled thousands of flights early this month on account of stricter norms related to the pilots' duty period and rest, have been cancelling some flights for more than one week now on account of "bad weather".

The 57 flights cancelled on Sunday include from Chandigarh, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Delhi, Gaya, Kolkata, Chennai, Jaipur and Pune, among others.

The rally in the domestic market mirrored the white metal’s record run in global markets, where it hit an all-time high of $79.70 per ounce, surging over 11% in a single day on Friday.

Rising for the fifth consecutive day on MCX, silver futures for March 2026 delivery zoomed by ₹18,210, or 8.14%, to touch a new record of ₹2,42,000 per kilogram, before settling at ₹2,39,787 per kg on Friday.

IPO market update

Quick commerce unicorn Zepto has officially started its journey to list on the bourses with the filing of its preliminary papers with the markets regulator SEBI via the confidential route.

Zepto has filed "the pre-filed draft red herring prospectus with Sebi and the stock exchanges...in relation to the proposed initial public offering of its equity shares on the main-board of the stock exchanges," people familiar with the development told news agency PTI.

Companies prefer the confidential pre-filing route to keep the contents of the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) private until the later stages of the listing process. This method gives companies more flexibility in the IPO preparations and in responding to market conditions before making details public.