NIFTY50, SENSEX today: Wall Street cues, FII activity, key things to know before markets open on November 26

The Indian equity markets are set to open higher on Wednesday, November 26, as indicated by GIFT NIFTY futures. NIFTY futures at GIFT City in Ahmedabad rose 106 points to 26,162 amid positive cues from Asian markets.

The Indian equity benchmarks ended lower for a third straight session on Tuesday, November 25. The benchmarks traded in a narrow band for most part of the day but turned highly volatile in the last hour of the session as monthly stocks and NIFTY50 futures and option contracts for the month of November expired.

The SENSEX dropped as much as 363 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 25,857 after hitting a high of 26,033 dragged down by losses in index heavyweights like ITC, Infosys, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Larsen & Toubro and Mahindra & Mahindra.

Asian markets

Asian markets extended gains to a third straight session on Wednesday tracking gains on Wall Street as latest consumer data boosted hopes of Federal Reserve rate cut next month.

Japan's Nikkei climbed 1.96%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.57%, South Korea's KOSPI jumped 1.66%, Singapore's Straits Times rose 0.52 and China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.08%.

Wall Street update

All three major US stock indexes closed in positive territory, with the blue-chip Dow out front. But sagging shares of artificial intelligence frontrunner Nvidia limited the Nasdaq's advance.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.43%, S&P500 climbed 0.91% and tech heavy Nasdaq advanced 0.67%.

FII/DII activity

Foreign institutional investors bought shares worth ₹785 crore on Tuesday while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth ₹3,912 crore, data from the National Stock Exchange showed.

The FIIs have so far this month sold shares worth ₹9,256 crore and for the calendar year they have been net sellers to the tune of ₹1,49,166 crore, according to the data from National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL).

Stocks to watch

The total size of the issue (assuming full uptake) is ₹24,930.30 crore through the issuance of over 13.85 crore new shares, according to the company's rights issue filing.

The issue closes on December 10.

The company plans to increase its clinker production capacity by 2.31 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) and cement grinding capacity by 1.2 MTPA, supported by a proposed investment of ₹1,816 crore.

The MoU for the proposed investment was formally signed during the Chhattisgarh Investor Connect event held on Tuesday in New Delhi, in the presence of Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai.

The company has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for Verapamil Hydrochloride extended-release tablets in multiple strengths, the drug firm said in a statement.

Verapamil hydrochloride extended-release tablets are used to lower high blood pressure, which helps reduce the risk of serious heart problems like strokes and heart attacks.

The tablets will be produced at the company's Baddi-based plant in Himachal Pradesh.

The number of shares that get freed up for trade in today's session amounts to 69% of the company's total outstanding equity. Based on Tuesday's closing price, the number of shares that get freed up for trade amounts to ₹55,158.9 crore, the report added.