NIFTY50, SENSEX today: Wall Street cues, FII activity, key things to know before markets open on March 19

The Indian equity benchmarks are set stage a gap down opening on Thursday, March 19, as indicated by GIFT NIFTY futures. NIFTY futures at GIFT City in Ahmedabad plunged 534 points or 2.25% to 23,242 amid negative cues from Asian markets.

The Indian equity benchmarks ended higher for a third straight session on Wednesday, March 18, powered by buying interest in information technology (IT) shares. The SENSEX rose as much as 929 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 23,862 led by gains in heavyweights like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Mahindra & Mahindra, Axis Bank and Larsen & Toubro.

The SENSEX ended 633 points higher at 76,704 and NIFTY50 index advanced 197 points to close at 23,778.

Asian markets

Asian markets were trading sharply lower on Thursday tracking weak closing of US markets after United States Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged and tensions in Middle East escalated.

Iran accused Israel of striking its facilities in the huge South Pars gas field on Wednesday in a major escalation in the US-Israeli war that sent oil prices shooting higher, and retaliated by vowing attacks on oil and gas targets throughout ‌the Gulf, firing missiles at Qatar and Saudi Arabia, news agency Reuters reported.

Japan's Nikkei dropped 2.65%, China's Shanghai Composite declined 0.65%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng plunged 1.5% and South Korea's KOSPI index tumbled 2.3%.

Wall Street update

US stocks ended sharply lower on Wednesday after wholesale inflation expanded sharply in February while US Fed decided to keep interest rates steady as it assesses the economic impact of US and Israel war with Iran.

The Fed projected higher inflation, steady unemployment and only a single reduction in borrowing costs this year as officials took stock ‌of economic risks from the US and Israeli war with Iran, according to a report by news agency Reuters.

S&P 500 index dropped 1.36%, Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.63% and tech heavy Nasdaq tumbled 1.46%.

US Fed keeps interest rate unchanged

The Federal Reserve kept the interest rates unchanged at 3.75%.

The central bank reduced the expectations of further rate cuts this year as the latest dot plot projections show a single rate cut this year, as compared to at least two rate cuts in 2026 showed in December 2025 meeting.

In addition, the inflation expectations for 2026 are also revised higher to 2.7% for the core PCE inflation. The Federal Reserve also said the implications of the Middle East crisis are uncertain. Policymakers noted that the core economic activity remains robust, expanding at a solid pace.

FII/DII activity

Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth ₹2,714 crore on Wednesday while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth ₹3,253 crore, data from the National Stock Exchange showed.

The FIIs have so far this month sold shares worth ₹77,214 crore compared with shares worth ₹22,615 bought by them in February, according to the data from National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL).

Crude oil update

Brent crude futures sharply higher after Iran accused Israel of striking its facilities in the huge South Pars gas field on Wednesday in a major escalation in the US-Israeli war. Brent Crude futures rose as much as 5% to hit an intraday high of $112.85

Stocks to watch

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), Nippon India Mutual Fund (MF), Edelweiss MF, ICICI Prudential MF, Baring Private Equity India Fund, General Insurance Corporation of India and Edelweiss Life Insurance Company are among the anchor investors, according to a circular uploaded on BSE's website.

Following the proposed acquisition of up to 41.66 per cent stake of Manappuram Finance, its subsidiaries Asirvad Micro Finance Limited (AMFL) and Manappuram Home Finance Limited (MHFL) would come under the joint control of the US-based global private investment firm Bain Capital, Manappuram Finance said in a statement on Wednesday.

The demand was raised after the Income Tax Department treated investments received by the company from investors during the period, including funds from SEBI-registered Category II Alternative Investment Funds (AIF), as taxable income, Physicswallah said in a regulatory filing.

The company plans to challenge the assessment order.

The addition of these regions to the company's network addresses the demand for Indian MSME exports such as apparel, handicrafts, and electronics, which are expected to see a significant boost under the new trade agreements, Delhivery said.

The service utilizes Delhivery's domestic infrastructure to connect the tier 2 and tier-3 cities to major international hubs, it said.