NIFTY50, SENSEX today: Wall Street cues, FII activity, key things to know before markets open on January 8

The Indian equity benchmarks are set to higher on Thursday, January 8, as indicated by GIFT NIFTY futures. NIFTY futures at GIFT City in Ahmedabad declined 67 points to 26,168 amid weak cues from Asian markets.

The Indian equity benchmarks declined for a second straight session on Wednesday, January 7. The 30-share SENSEX fell as much as 446 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 26,068 dragged down by losses in index heavyweights like HDFC Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India, Mahindra & Mahindra and Reliance Industries.

The benchmarks, however, staged a recovery in noon deals on the back of buying interest in ICICI Bank, Infosys, Titan, TCS and HCL Technologies.

The SENSEX ended 102 points lower at 84,961 and NIFTY50 index closed 38 points lower at 26,141.

Asian markets

Asian shares were trading lower as the record-breaking rally lost steam with Japan's Nikkei falling 1%, China's Shanghai Composite advanced 0.19%, Hing Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.2% and Thailand's SET Composite dropped 1.32%.

Wall Street update

The S&P 500 broke its four-day winning streak to register its first loss of 2026. The S&P500 declined 0.3%, Dow Joines declined 0.94% and tech heavy Nasdaq advanced 0.16%.

Some of the market’s sharpest drops hit industries that President Donald Trump targeted with criticism on his social media network. Homebuilders fell sharply, for example, after Trump suggested moves to prevent large institutional investors from buying single-family homes, in hopes of making it more affordable for people to buy houses, news agency AP reported.

FII/DII activity

Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth ₹1,528 crore on Wednesday while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth ₹2,889 crore, data from the National Stock Exchange showed.

The FIIs have so far this month sold shares worth ₹6,241 crore, according to the data from National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL).

Stocks to watch

The Tata firm reported a 12% increase in production on both a quarterly and year-on-year (YoY) basis, primarily driven by higher output at the Jamshedpur and Kalinganagar facilities. For the nine months ended in the December quarter of FY26, production was up 6% YoY to ~17.2 mt.

“Improved production led to ‘best-ever quarterly’ deliveries, and Tata Steel India crossed the ‘6 million tonne’ mark for the first time,” the firm said in a regulatory filing.

The company is eligible for entitlement under Industrial Promotion Subsidy (IPS) of ₹25,800.87 lakhs to the extent of 50% amount of SGST taxes payable on sale of eligible finished products in Maharashtra, Electricity Duty Exemption and 100% exemption from payment of Stamp Duty for a period of Seven years i.e. from January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2030, in accordance with the dispensation under Government Notification Revenue and Forest Department.

The revenue collection stood at ₹675 crore in the same month last year, IRB said in an exchange filing on Wednesday.

The collection includes revenues from two of its InvITs, namely IRB InvIT Fund (Public InvIT) and IRB Infrastructure Trust (Private InvIT), the company added.

The product is therapeutically equivalent to the reference listed drug (RLD), Pataday Once Daily Relief, 0.7%, of Alcon Laboratories Inc. (Alcon).

Of the total order of 40 A321 XLR aircraft, nine are expected to be delivered in the 2026 calendar year.

After its first international induction to operate non-stop services to Athens, subsequent aircraft will be deployed on existing routes such as Istanbul, Turkey, and Denpasar, Bali, the airline said.

Besides, the Competition Commission has sought information from IndiGo as well as aviation regulator DGCA in order to assess whether the country's largest airline indulged in unfair business practices against the backdrop of massive flight cancellations last month, according to a PTI report.

In early December, IndiGo, the country's largest airline with a domestic market share of over 63%, faced operational disruptions that resulted in thousands of flights getting cancelled before the situation normalised.

The company said that Pharmathen is its supply partner, manufacturing Lanreotide Injection for Cipla USA Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the company.

As per media reports, based on the Form 483 that became public on January 7, 2026, the USFDA conducted an inspection at the manufacturing facility of Pharmathen, located at Rodopi, Greece, from November 10, 2025, to November 21, 2025. Following the inspection, Pharmathen received nine inspectional observations.

Currently, "the company is evaluating the impact of the above event and will keep the stock exchanges informed of any update that may have a material impact, in accordance with the applicable regulatory requirements," Gland Pharma said in its filing.

As per this non-binding MoU, HUDCO may provide financial assistance of up to ₹1 lakh crore during the next five years for the execution of different housing and infrastructure projects in the State of Chhattisgarh.

The said solar-wind hybrid power shall be supplied from a 25 MW solar power plant unit and a 20.8 MW wind power plant unit, both located at Khavda, Gujarat.

Further, Adani Green Energy Twenty Five B Limited and Adani Renewable Energy Holding Four Limited have also signed an investment agreement with Asahi India Glass Limited on January 07, 2026.

Lemon Tree: The company has issued a clarification on news reports that Warburg Pincus may acquire a stake in the company.

The company said, "We hereby categorically clarify that no negotiations, discussions, agreements or proposals are ongoing or have been approved, as referred to in the media report, in relation to any acquisition by Warburg Pincus of shares of Lemon Tree Hotels Limited (“Company”), whether from APG Strategic RE Pool or otherwise, and no preferential allotment of shares by the company to Warburg Pincus is under consideration."

Accordingly, the statements in the media report suggesting acquisition of a stake in the company, a possible open offer, or preferential allotment by the company to Warburg Pincus are factually incorrect and misleading, it added.

The company added that Milan Partani, General Manager - User Growth and Content Commerce and Senior Management Personnel (“SMP”) of the company, will now assume the role of General Manager – Commerce Platform and continue to be SMP of the company.

Trade setup

On the technical charts, the NIFTY50 formed a doji candlestick pattern with a longer lower wick. The index fell to 26,067, taking support from the 20 SMA level of 26,081 and bounced back. As highlighted in the previous trade setup, the 20 SMA level will remain crucial support for the NIFTY50 in the near term. While 26,300 remains a crucial resistance.

On the options data front, the 26,200 calls witnessed strong open interest addition and hold the highest open interest, indicating a strong resistance for NIFTY50. Similarly, the 26,100 puts hold the highest open interest on the downside, indicating a strong support for the near term.