NIFTY50, SENSEX today: Wall Street cues, FII activity, key things to know before markets open on July 16

The Indian equity benchmarks are set to open on a flat note Thursday, July 16, as indicated by GIFT NIFTY futures. NIFTY futures at GIFT City in Gandhinagar advanced 11 points to 24,079 amid negative cues from Asian markets.

The Indian equity benchmarks resumed their up move after a day's pause in the previous session powered by gains in index heavyweights like HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, Eternal, Ultratech Cement, Bajaj Finance, Reliance Industries and Sun Pharma.

The SENSEX rose as much as 591 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 24,220. However, profit booking in afternoon deals near day's highs led to partial correction in the benchmarks.

The SENSEX ended 130 points higher at 77,185 and NIFTY50 index advanced 26 points to close at 24,078.

Asian markets

Meanwhile, US Central Command said it has completed its latest wave of strikes against Iran.

Japan's Nikkei dropped 2.83%. South Korea's KOSPI plunged 6.3% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.6%.

Brent Crude futures rose as much as 0.82% to $85.65 per barrel.

Wall Street update

US stocks ended higher on Wednesday on the back of strong earnings posted by heavyweight BlackRock.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3%, S&P 500 index advanced 0.4% and tech heavy Nasdaq gained 0.62%.

FII/DII activity

Foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth ₹735.83 crore on Wednesday while domestic institutional investors bought stocks worth ₹705 crore, as per NSE data.

FIIs have so far this year sold shares worth ₹2,58,713 crore, data from National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) showed.

Stocks to watch

In the reporting quarter, the company's revenue from operations increased to ₹516.3 crore from the year-ago period's ₹467.9 crore.

The insurer's net profit stood at ₹546 crore a year earlier.

HDFC Life's net premium income rose to ₹16,548 crore during the June quarter of FY27 from ₹14,466 crore a year ago, according to a stock exchange filing.

Its assets under management (AUM) expanded by 13% to surpass the ₹4 lakh crore mark.

The fintech and stock broking firm's PAT stood at ₹114.5 crore in the corresponding quarter of the preceding financial year.

However, on a sequential basis, profit declined 28% from ₹320 crore in Q4 FY26. ​

Total income rose 25.4% to ₹1,434 crore during the April-June quarter of FY27 from ₹1,143 crore a year ago, the broking firm said in a stock exchange filing. ​

This sustained increase from 50.3% domestic shareholding in the previous quarter underscores Paytm's position as an Indian-Owned and Controlled Company (IOCC), a milestone it first achieved in March 2026, and signals deepening conviction among long-term Indian institutional and non-institutional investors.

The government approved the ₹1.27 lakh crore Semicon 2.0 programme to accelerate semiconductor design and manufacturing capabilities, alongside the ₹62,500 crore Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme (MPMS) aimed at increasing domestic production, boosting exports and deepening local value addition in the mobile phone industry.

The semiconductor programme builds on the first phase of the India Semiconductor Mission, and will focus on six key areas: chip design, semiconductor equipment and materials, fabrication facilities, advanced packaging and testing, research and development, and talent development.

It had reported a net profit of ₹179.36 crore in the corresponding quarter of preceding 2025-26 fiscal, the company said in an exchange filing.

During April-June, the company's total income rose to ₹1,488.19 crore from ₹1,144.97 crore in the year-ago quarter, posting a rise of 30%.