NIFTY50, SENSEX today: Wall Street cues, FII activity, key things to know before markets open on February 24

The Indian equity benchmarks are set to stage a gap down opening on Tuesday, February 24, as indicated by GIFT NIFTY futures. NIFTY futures at GIFT City in Ahmedabad dropped 96 points to 25,609 amid mixed cues from global markets.

The Indian equity benchmarks closed higher for a second straight session on Monday, February 23. The SENSEX rose as much as 671 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 25,771 led by gains in index heavyweights like HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, State Bank of India, Larsen & Toubro and Reliance Industries.

The SENSEX ended 480 points higher at 83,295 and NIFTY50 index advanced 142 points to close at 25,713.

Asian markets

Most of the Asian markets were trading higher led by China's Shanghai Composite index's 1% gain. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.77%, South Korea's KOSPI surged 1.6% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 1.8%.

Wall Street update

US stocks ended sharply lower on Monday after President Donald Trump ramped up his newest tariffs, while investors continued to punish companies that could be losers in the artificial-intelligence revolution.

Trump said on Saturday that he would place temporary 15% tariffs on other countries. That’s up from the 10% rate he announced Friday following a Supreme Court ruling that struck down his sweeping “reciprocal” taxes on imports from around the world, news agency AP reported.

The S&P 500 index dropped 1%, Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 1.66% and tech heavy Nasdaq fell 1.13%.

IBM shares fell 13% after Anthropic said its Claude Code tool could be used to modernize legacy systems that run COBOL.

FII/DII activity

Foreign institutional investors bought shares worth ₹3,484 crore on Monday while domestic institutional investors sold shares worth ₹1,292 crore, data from the National Stock Exchange showed.

The FIIs have so far this month bought shares worth ₹16,667 crore, according to the data from National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL).

Stocks to watch

The press release said, "BSE has enabled MSBPL on its platform with effect from February 24, 2026. The BSE nod follows the grant of stockbroking registration to MSBPL by the Securities & Exchange Board of India in July 2025. With the latest approval in place, the company is now authorised to begin broking operations on the BSE. This enables MSBPL to carry on the activities of buying, selling, dealing, clearing, and settlement of equity trades."

The envisaged hotel is being developed as part of a building premises which will be availed on a warm shell lease. Once operational, this shall be the company’s third hotel in Hyderabad.

The NBFC subsidiary will be capitalised with ₹20,000 crore to be injected over the next few years. Airtel will contribute 70% with the promoter group via Bharti Enterprises Limited, bringing in the balance of 30%.

With strong digital assets, a large data and analytics engine powered by 500+ data scientists, and deep operational expertise, Airtel aims to rapidly expand access to simple, secure, and innovative digital financial services across India.

The acquisition has been completed pursuant to a Share Purchase Agreement executed on February 20, 2026, for a total consideration of approximately ₹30.40 crore, resulting in Hally Pacific Private Limited becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of the company.

The Nasdaq Composite declined 1.13% to end at 22,627.27, while the S&P 500 slipped 1.04% to settle at 6,837.75, pushing the index back into negative territory for 2026.

IBM shares plunged 13% after Anthropic unveiled new programming capabilities for its Claude Code product. Other software majors, including Microsoft and CrowdStrike, also remained under pressure amid lingering concerns over AI-driven disruption. Microsoft fell 3%, while CrowdStrike tumbled nearly 10%.

In a regulatory filing on Monday, the drugmaker stated that it received approval for Ranluspec for use in vials and pre-filled syringes, following the positive opinion from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use.

The biosimilar ranibizumab will be commercialised by Sandoz across the European Union, excluding Germany, it stated.

Mann said the project shows the increasing confidence of the industry in the state's policies and governance.

The plant, coming up near HiTech Valley, will have a 0.75 MTPA electric arc furnace-based steelmaking facility, along with a rebar mill.

The project is spread over 115 acres.

He said the initial investment of ₹2,600 crore has now increased to ₹3,200 crore.

The plant is expected to create employment for around 2,500 people.

Private sector IDFC First Bank had on Sunday disclosed a ₹590 crore fraud committed by certain employees and others at a particular branch in Chandigarh in a specific set of Haryana state government accounts.

"We are watching the development...there is no systemic issue over here," Malhotra said in a press briefing on Monday, following the post-Budget meeting of the RBI Board of Directors with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi.

The project aims to develop novel optical fibre technologies relevant to future 6G and quantum communication systems. As a consortium partner, HFCL will contribute industry expertise, manufacturing perspective, and application insights to support the translational aspects of the research.

The programme, Bright Smiles, Bright Futures (BSBF), reaches over 10 million children annually across various states, the company said.

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini said the collaboration will help promote preventive oral hygiene practices among students and support their overall development.

Colgate-Palmolive (India) Managing Director and CEO Prabha Narasimhan said the partnership marks a shift from awareness to large-scale action by embedding preventive oral care within the state's educational framework.

The project, located at village Dadahu in the Sirmaur district of the state, is scheduled to be completed within a timeline of 30 months, Patel Engineering said in a statement on Monday.

The company said it has been declared the lowest bidder by Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (HPPCL) for the construction of package 1 of the Renuka Ji dam project in Himachal Pradesh at a cost of ₹910.08 crore, including GST.

In its regulatory disclosure, BPCL said the order was passed on February 21, 2026, and pertains to transactions undertaken during the period September 2004 to May 2010.

The demand comprises excise duty of ₹476.94 crore, interest of ₹1,339.70 crore, and a penalty of ₹95,000.

BPCL said it would analyse and file an appeal against the said order to the Hon’ble CESTAT.

The new automotive lighting facility spans 8,200 square metres and utilises the latest technologies to serve the rising demand for premium lighting solutions. It is the first facility in India capable of manufacturing edge-to-edge single-piece long lighting parts, powered by high-tonnage multi-colour moulding machines (2,000T to 2,700T).

The company had earlier received a Letter of Intent from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) for the equipping, operation, maintenance, and transfer of additional liquid cargo berths—LB3 and LB4—at Jawaharlal Nehru Port under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode and had subsequently signed the concession agreement for the same.

"This milestone marks the commissioning of the liquid cargo berths at JNPA under the public-private partnership mode. With this development, the company's total operational capacity has increased from 177 MTPA to 181.4 MTPA, underscoring its continued focus on the timely execution of its growth projects and expansion commitments," the press release added.

Expiry trade setup

On technical charts, the index sustained above the 20 and 50 EMA levels on the hourly charts and also closed above the key moving averages on the daily charts, indicating renewed bullish momentum in the index. However, with a weak opening, the index should close above the moving averages in the early hours of the trading session to keep the bullish momentum intact throughout the day.

On the options data front, the 25,500 puts hold the highest open interest, indicating a strong support for today’s expiry. On the flip side, the 26,000 calls continued to hold the highest open interest, indicating a strong resistance for the NIFTY50 on Tuesday.