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

The Indian equity benchmarks are set to stage a gap down opening on Monday, March 23, as indicated by GIFT NIFTY futures. NIFTY futures at GIFT City in Ahmedabad nosedived as much as 309 points or 1.34% to 22,831 amid negative cues from Asian markets.

Benchmark indices, SENSEX and NIFTY50, closed in the green on Friday, March 20, bolstered by gains in IT, PSU bank and pharma stocks.

The SENSEX closed 325.96 points or 0.44% higher at 74,532.96. The 50-share NIFTY advanced by 112.35 points or 0.49% to end at 23,114.50.

Asian markets

Asian markets were trading sharply lower on Monday as conflict escalated in Middle East escalated and entered its fourth week on Monday.

In the latest rand of escalation, Iran has threatened to attack energy and water infrastructure across the Gulf if US President Donald Trump follows through on his threat to attack its electricity grid, raising fears of mass disruption in a region heavily dependent on desalination for drinking water, news agency Reuters reported.

The latest warning by Iran could send the price of crude oil further northwards sparking fears of spiralling inflation that dented market sentiment across Asia in morning deals, analysts noted.

Japan's Nikkei fell 3.36%, China's Shanghai Composite dropped 1.55%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng plunged 2.6% and South Korea's KOSPI crashed 5.2%.

Wall Street update

US stocks ended lower on Friday amid surging crude oil prices. Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.96%, S&P 500 index dropped 1.51% and tech heavy Nasdaq plunged 2.01%.

Crude oil update

Trump on Saturday threatened to "obliterate" Iran's power plants if Tehran did not fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, a significant escalation barely a day after he talked about "winding down" the war, now in its fourth week.

FII/DII activity

Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth ₹5,518 crore on Friday while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth ₹5,706 crore, data from the National Stock Exchange showed.

The FIIs have so far this month sold shares worth ₹88,180 crore compared with shares worth ₹22,615 bought by them in February, according to the data from National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL).

Stocks to watch

The development comes less than a week after its on-executive chairman, Atanu Chakraborty, abruptly resigned on March 18, citing differences over “values and ethics” – a ground that the management of the country’s second-largest lender said was baffling, as the former bureaucrat offered no specific instance despite repeated requests.

Currently, the public float in IDBI Bank is only 5.29%, which limits the scope for fair valuation.

The remaining shares are held by the insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), which holds a controlling stake of 49.24%, while the Government of India's (GoI) holding stands at 45.48%.

Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Group was in the race to acquire Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL) through an insolvency process, but the lenders in November last year approved the resolution plan or bid of Adani Enterprises Ltd.

On March 17, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Allahabad bench, approved Adani Enterprises Ltd's ₹14,535 crore bid to acquire Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL) through the insolvency process.

In a regulatory filing, JAL had informed that the NCLT, Allahabad bench, had "orally pronounced an order on March 17, 2026" approving the resolution plan submitted by Adani Enterprises Ltd.

Now, mining giant Vadanta has filed an appeal against the said NCLT order before the appellate insolvency tribunal NCLAT.

Besides, Vedanta will consider the third interim dividend of the current fiscal year today.

The company, which gets over 35% of its revenue from the geography witnessing conflict after the US and Israel's attack on Iran and the subsequent retaliations, however, flagged logistics and supply chain as key challenges and noted revenue risks if the situation remains unchanged.

L&T does not see any immediate impact on revenues, as the 5% of projects where work has been stalled do not contribute significantly to the topline, Subramanian Sarma, its deputy managing director, told reporters over the weekend.

However, if the logistical issues do not get resolved in three months, there can be an impact through revenue deferment, he added.

The order, issued by the Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax, Mumbai, under the Income Tax Act and uploaded on March 20, 2026, pertains to Tata Capital Financial Services Ltd (TCFSL), which has since been merged with Tata Capital with effect from April 1, 2023.

The demand includes interest of ₹202.72 crore and primarily arises due to alleged short credit of taxes paid and certain disallowances, Tata Capital said in a stock exchange filing on Saturday.

According to an investor's presentation, Lodha Developers acquired 11 land parcels across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Delhi-NCR, Pune, and Bengaluru during the first nine months of this fiscal year to develop housing projects.

These 11 land parcels acquired by the Lodha Group have an estimated saleable area of 20.6 million sq ft and an expected sales value of ₹58,800 crore.

Similarly, Godrej Properties, too, is aggressively acquiring land parcels across Tier I and II cities for group housing and residential plotted development projects.

Godrej Properties has acquired nearly 20 land parcels so far this fiscal year to develop housing projects worth ₹42,000 crore.

The airfare caps' removal will be effective from March 23, according to an order issued by the civil aviation ministry.

The removal also comes at a time when airlines are facing significant operational disruptions in international routes due to the West Asia conflict.

In the order, the ministry also said that airlines are required to exercise pricing discipline and act responsibly.

The white metal prices increased by ₹1,800, or nearly 1%, to ₹2,40,500 per kg (inclusive of all taxes) from Thursday's closing level of ₹2,38,700 per kg.

However, gold of 99.9% purity extended its losses for the third consecutive day, declining by ₹650, or 0.42%, to ₹1,52,650 per 10 grams (inclusive of all taxes). The yellow metal had settled at ₹1,53,300 per 10 grams in the previous session.

Analysts said gold prices remain under pressure due to macroeconomic uncertainties and global cues favouring the US dollar.

Trade setup

On the hourly charts, the index remained below the 20 and 50 EMA, indicating sell-on-rise sentiment on the short-term charts. On the long-term charts, the weekly 200 EMA level now remains the next crucial support for the NIFTY50.

On the open interest front, the 23,800 calls hold the highest open interest, indicating a strong resistance on the upside. The 23,000 puts hold the highest open interest for tomorrow’s expiry, indicating a near-term resistance.