NIFTY50, SENSEX today: Wall Street cues, FII activity, key things to know before markets open on March 6

The Indian equity benchmarks are set to stage a gap down opening on Friday, March 6, as indicated by GIFT NIFTY futures. NIFTY futures at GIFT City in Ahmedabad dropped 171 points to 24,656 despite stable cues from Asian markets.

The Indian equity benchmarks snapped their three-day losing streak and staged a strong rebound on Thursday, March 5, amid strong global cues after a report suggested that Iran made a conditional offer to abandon its nucleal programme.

The SENSEX rose as much as 1,188 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 24,854 led by gains in index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro, HDFC Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharat Electronics, NTPC and Bajaj Finance.

The SENSEX ended 900 points higher at 80,016 and NIFTY50 index advanced 285 points to close at 24,766.

Asian markets

Most of the Asian markets were trading higher with Japan's Nikkei rising 0.26%, China's Shanghai Composite rising 0.2% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng advancing 1%.

Wall Street update

US stocks ended lower on Thursday as crude oil price spike to highest level since 2024 because of war in Iran.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.61%, S&P 500 index declined 0.56% and tech heavy Nasdaq dropped 0.26%.

Crude oil price update

The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude shot up 8.5% Thursday to settle at $81.01 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 4.9% to $85.41 per barrel and is likewise near its highest price since 2024.

FII/DII activity

Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth ₹3,752 crore on Thursday while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth ₹5,153 crore, data from the National Stock Exchange showed.

The FIIs have sold shares worth ₹17,570 crore in March 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 consolidated revenue from operations surged by about 21% to ₹854 crore in Q3 FY26, from ₹707 crore in the December 2024 quarter.

"We delivered a great quarter, improving across nearly every metric. Our best-in-class organic growth, gross margins, and high client retention reflect the strength of our enterprise AI capabilities and the trust our clients place in us," Srikanth Velamakanni, Group CEO and Executive Vice-Chairman, Fractal Analytics, said.

"The investment is a related party transaction and is on an arm's length basis. None of the company’s promoter / promoter group / other group companies have any interest in the above investment. No governmental or regulatory approval is required for the above transaction," it said.

The strategic divestment is focused on stemming the financial drain on the Indian parent company, as Firema had been incurring substantial losses despite repeated cash infusions from Titagarh Rail Systems over the last few years.

"CGS has entered into a Conditional Shares Purchase Agreement with PLNE today i.e. 5th March, 2026, wherein PLNE has agreed to purchase the shares representing 51% of the paid-up share capital held by CGS of CPSI for a consideration of IDR1 (One Indonesian Rupiah)," the firm said. The expected date of completion of the sale is March 31, 2026.

Trade setup

On the technical charts, the NIFTY50 closed near the 50 EMA levels, adding some hope for bulls to regain the momentum in the short-term period. Additionally, the index also closed above the budget-day-low level, signalling buying pressure at the lower levels. Experts believe the index should hold the 24,400 levels on Friday, signalling stability before deciding on the next direction in the markets.

On the options data front, the 24,500 puts witnessed heavy open interest addition, indicating that downside risks remain protected near the 24,500 levels. On the other hand, the 25,000 calls continued to hold the highest open interest, indicating a strong resistance for the NIFTY50.