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

The Indian equity benchmarks are set to open on a flat note as indicated by GIFT NIFTY futures. NIFTY futures at GIFT City in Ahmedabad advanced 18 points or 0.08% to 23,835 amid strong cues from Asian markets after United States and Iran agreed on a peace deal.

The benchmarks surged for a second straight session on Monday, June 15, as bullish sentiment prevailed in across equities as crude oil prices dropped and global markets rallied after United States and Iran reached a peace agreement.

The SENSEX ended 736 points or 1% higher at 76,264 and NIFTY50 index advanced 231 points or 1% to close at 23,854.

Crude oil prices crashed in international markets after President Donald Trump ordered to stop the US naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Brent Crude dropped nearly 3% to $79.84 per barrel.

US President Trump confirmed the deal and authorised an end to the US naval blockade of Iranian ports. But it may take months for oil prices to stabilise after the disruptions from the war caused them to surge, pushing costs up gasoline and many other products.

Asian markets

Most of the Asian markets were trading lower on account of profit booking after a massive surge in the previous session. Japan's Nikkei declined 0.23%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.9% and China's Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.2%.

Wall Street update

US stocks ended sharply higher on Monday on the back of a bullish sentiment after United States and Iran agreed on a peace deal in West Asia.

Tech heavy Nasdaq advanced 3.037%, Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.92% and S&P 500 index surged 1.65%.

Crude oil update

A deal to end the war with Iran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz and allow oil tankers to carry crude again from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide.

The price for a barrel of benchmark brent crude sank to $83.

FII/DII activity

Foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth ₹200 crore on Friday while domestic institutional investors bought stocks worth ₹3,189 crore, as per NSE data.

FIIs have so far this year sold shares worth ₹2,88,382 crore, data from National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) showed.

Stocks to watch

The company said mitigation measures were implemented rapidly following the fire at the Pickle Line facility to protect downstream operations and customer commitments. Investigations remain underway into the cause of the fire, during which all on-site workers were safely evacuated.

The first Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) under the Centre’s scheme for replacement of old trucks and buses in the Delhi-NCR region was signed on Monday between the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and Ashok Leyland, along with Switch Mobility, a subsidiary of the company.

With the signing of the MoU, the statement said, Ashok Leyland and Switch Mobility have become the first Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to partner with the government for implementation of the scheme.

These facilities, "vishram" which are spread across cities such as Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, and Lucknow, will support the well-being of all delivery personnel across the country irrespective of their platform, parent organization, or sector, including those working in e-commerce, quick-commerce, food-tech, and traditional courier services, the company said.

"As the backbone of India's digital commerce, delivery associates routinely navigate highly demanding conditions, from extreme weather to a deficit of essential roadside infrastructure. Through the 'Vishram' initiative, we are actively addressing this structural gap," said Prashant Gazipur, Chief Operating Officer for Operations at Delhivery.

The scope of the work includes design, manufacture, supply and warranty of traction converters, auxiliary converters, traction motors and TCMS for 12 trainsets, the company said, without sharing financial details of the deal.

"As India continues to invest in sustainable urban transportation, the development of a strong local manufacturing and technology ecosystem becomes increasingly important," said Rajeev Joisar, Chief Executive Officer, Mobility Business at Siemens.

The proposed partnership aims to manufacture high-density AI racks, servers, storage systems, networking equipment and supporting power and cooling infrastructure, as India seeks to position itself as a global hub for AI hardware production.

In a statement, Adani Enterprises and Jabil said the platform would target multi-gigawatt AI rack manufacturing capacity and cater to hyperscale cloud providers, colocation operators and enterprise data centres worldwide.

The alliance combines Jabil's engineering and manufacturing expertise with Adani Group's infrastructure, renewable energy and data centre businesses to address what the companies described as rapidly growing demand for AI-ready data centre infrastructure, it said.

The rate of special additional excise duty (SAED) on export of diesel will be Rs 14/litre, up from Rs 13.5/litre at present. SAED on export of ATF will be Rs 12.5/litre, up from Rs 9.5/litre.

There is no change in the rate of duty on exports of petrol and it continues to be at Rs 1.5 per litre.

The Finance Ministry in a notification said the duty hikes will be effective from June 16.

HCLTech and Bessemer Venture Partners took part in the funding round, with continued support from existing investors Khosla Ventures and Peak XV Partners.

"Sarvam, India's full-stack sovereign AI company, has raised $234 million in the first close of its $300 million Series B at a post-money valuation of $1.5 billion,” the company said in a statement.

On April 29, the board of the company approved raising of up to ₹10,000 crore through the issuance of equity shares, non-convertible debentures, along with warrants, any other eligible securities convertible into equity shares of the company, or any combination (collectively, securities) on Qualified Institutional Placement.

According to a regulatory filing, the company got shareholders' approval to raise capital through a qualified institutions placement.

The shareholders also approved the appointment of Jignesh Devchandbhai Rathod as a Whole-Time Director & CEO of the company.