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

The Indian equity benchmarks are set to open lower on Wednesday, September 23, as indicated by NIFTY futures traded at Gift City in Gandhinagar. GIFT NIFTY futures declined 50 points to 23,345 amid mixed cues from global markets.

The Indian benchmark indices snapped their winning streak and closed in negative territory on Tuesday amid FII outflow and a surge in global crude oil prices. The indices were also weighed down by a sell-off in information technology (IT) and cement stocks.

The SENSEX fell as much as 0.58% to touch an intraday low of 74,423.71. Meanwhile, the NIFTY50 declined as much as 0.55% to reach the session’s low of 23,285.75.

BSE SENSEX dropped by 329.91 points or 0.44% to close at 74,529.08, while the 50-share NIFTY ended lower by 85.30 points or 0.36% at 23,329.

Asian markets

Asian shares were trading on a mixed note, but tech stocks were witnessing buying interest over optimism around Meta Platforms Inc.’s new artificial intelligence agent.

South Korea's KOSPI index advanced 0.33%, China's Shanghai Composite declined 0.15%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.08% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.9%.

Japan's Nikkei was closed on account of holiday.

Wall Street update

US stocks ended on a mixed note with Dow Jones Industrial Average declining 0.36%, S&P 500 index ended unchanged while tech heavy Nasdaq index advanced 0.45%.

Nasdaq surged to a record high on optimism around Meta Platforms Inc.’s new artificial intelligence agent.

Crude oil update

Crude oil dropped for a second straight session and traded below $100 per barrel mark on expectations of diplomatic solution to the US-Iran ‌war through talks at the UN in New York.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia began restoring crude supply on a critical pipeline to the Red Sea.

Brent Crude futures fell nearly 1% to $98.27 per barrel.

FII/DII activity

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹3,809.99 crore on Tuesday while domestic institutional investors bought stocks worth ₹4,120.07 crore, as per NSE data.

FIIs have so far this month sold shares worth ₹17,235 crore taking the total quantum of selling to ₹2,41,676 crore for 2026, data from NSDL showed.

Stocks to watch

RHI Magnesita India is one of the leading suppliers of high-grade refractory products.

According to the block deal data available on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), Dalmia Bharat Refractories sold 2,29,41,224 shares, amounting to nearly an 11.11% stake in RHI Magnesita India.

American multinational Mastercard, through its affiliate Mastercard Asia/Pacific Pte Ltd, sold 4,97,24,182 shares in 13 tranches, representing a 4.31% stake in Noida-based Pine Labs, according to exchange data.

The shares were offloaded at an average price of ₹187.75 apiece, for an aggregate value of ₹933.57 crore.

The deal marks EIL's second major engagement with the Lagos-based conglomerate, following its role as consultant on Dangote's 6,50,000-bpd Lekki Free Zone refinery in Nigeria - currently the world's largest single-train refinery - and its ongoing expansion to 1.4 million bpd, EIL said in a statement.

Under the agreement, HCL Tech will deploy its AI Force service transformation platform to provide AI-led managed services across infrastructure and end-user operations. The partnership is aimed at streamlining M Group's IT landscape, enhancing operational resilience, and establishing a scalable digital foundation.

The technology deployment will support digital transformation across M Group's business verticals, which encompass water, energy, technology, communications, transport, and defence.

Earlier, Persistent had secured a 22.10% stake in the Frankfurt-listed company under a share purchase agreement with Lantano Beteiligungen GmbH.

With this, it has now secured an aggregate 83.25% stake, excluding treasury shares, in the German firm and surpassed the minimum threshold of 50% shareholding required for the transaction to proceed, Persistent Systems said in a regulatory filing.

(With PTI inputs)_