NIFTY50, SENSEX today: Wall Street cues, FII activity, key things to know before markets open on January 23

The Indian equity benchmarks are set to stage a flat opening on Friday, January 23, as indicated by GIFT NIFTY futures. NIFTY futures at GIFT City in Ahmedabad slipped 8 points to 25,342 amid positive cues from Asian markets.

The Indian equity benchmarks snapped their three-day losing streak on Thursday, January 22, led by gains in index heavyweights like State Bank of India, Bharat Electronics, Tata Steel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Larsen & Toubro and Tata Consultancy Services.

The benchmarks witnessed a topsy-turvy session as the SENSEX rose as much as 874 points and NIFTY50 index moved above 25,400 at the day's highest level. However, owing to profit taking at day's highs, the benchmarks erased their intraday gains. But buying interest returned in the last hour of trade.

The SENSEX advanced 398 points to close at 82,307 and NIFTY50 index closed 134 points higher at 25,290.

Asian markets

Asian markets were trading higher on Friday ahead of Bank of Japan's policy meeting. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.3%, China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.1%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.5% and South Korea's KOSPI rose 0.85%.

Precious metals made new records in the international markets as the ‌dollar traded around the lows of the year. Gold rallied for a fifth day, gaining 0.3% to $4,951.47 per ounce, while silver was up 1.7% at $97.85 per ounce, according to a report by Reuters.

Wall Street update

US market ended higher on Thursday as geopolitical tensions eased and US economy grew by 4.4% in the previous quarter, the fastest in two years. Further, the latest GDP print suggests policymakers could exercise restraint in easing the monetary policy.

Dow Jones advanced 0.63%, S&P 500 index rose 0.55% and tech heavy Nasdaq gained 0.91%.

FII/DII activity

Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth ₹2,550 crore on Thursday while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth ₹4,223 crore, data from the National Stock Exchange showed.

The FIIs have so far this month sold shares worth ₹31,334 crore, according to the data from National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL).

Stocks to watch

The exceptional expense included ₹969 crore set aside for implementation of new labour codes and ₹577 crore for operational disruptions it faced in December, IndiGo said in a regulatory filing.

IndiGo's revenue from operations rose 6% to ₹23,472 crore from ₹22,111 crore in the year-ago period.

On a YoY basis, Coforge's revenue rose 28.5% in rupee terms, 21.5% in CC terms, and 22.6% in US dollar terms.

PAT (excl. extraordinary items) came in at ₹364 crore, up 71.2% on a YoY basis.

The company's revenue from operations rose 12.3% in the December quarter to ₹4,002.57 crore, as compared to ₹3,561.33 crore in the year-ago period.

The company had posted a net profit (attributable to its shareholders) of ₹122.3 crore in the year-ago period.

Revenue from operations saw a dip of 4% to ₹1,848.5 crore in Q3 FY26, as compared to ₹1,926.4 crore logged in Q3 FY25.

Net profit came in at ₹157 crore in October-December period compared with ₹143 crore in the same period a year back, according to a company statement.

The contract research, development, and manufacturing organisation posted a profit after tax (PAT) of ₹131 crore in the October-December period last fiscal.

Revenue from operations declined to ₹917 crore from ₹944 crore in the year-ago period, Syngene International said in a statement.

India's largest real estate firm clocked sales bookings of ₹419 crore during the third quarter of this fiscal year, a sharp decline from a record pre-sales of Rs 12,039 crore in the year-ago period.

According to a regulatory filing, DLF's consolidated net profit rose to ₹1,203.36 crore in the October-December period of this fiscal year from ₹1,058.73 crore a year ago. Total income surged to ₹2,479.54 crore from ₹1,737.47 crore logged a year ago.

Trade setup

On the technical charts level, the NIFTY50 index continued to trade above the 200 EMA level, indicating that the 25,000 level remains a strong support in the near term. Further, the index also bounced back from the weekly 50 EMA levels, making it the near-term support level on a weekly basis.

On the options data front, the 25,000 puts hold the highest open interest, indicating a strong support for the coming monthly expiry. Similarly, the 25,500 calls hold the highest open interest, indicating strong resistance for the index in the coming monthly expiry on January 27th.