NIFTY50, SENSEX today: Wall Street cues, GIFT NIFTY, FII activity, key things to know before markets open on February 27

SENSEX, NIFTY50 on February 27, 2026: Benchmark indices NIFTY50 and SENSEX are expected to open in the negative territory on Friday. The GIFT NIFTY is trading 0.41% lower at 25,561.

On Thursday, SENSEX settled marginally down by 27.46 points, or 0.03%, at 82,248.61. NIFTY50 was up by a slim margin of 14.05 points, or 0.06%, to close at 25,496.55.

US Markets

US equities declined on Thursday as investors look forward to inflation data due Friday morning.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq and benchmark S&P 500 settled 1.21% and 0.54% lower, respectively, while the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average closed flat with a positive bias (+0.03%).

Asian and international markets

Asian shares were trading mixed. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 was up 0.29% to 58,753.39. South Korea's Kospi fell 1.72% to 6,198.54 following overnight losses in Wall Street.

The Shanghai Composite index is down 0.02% to 4,145.91.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell marginally 0.09% to 9,166.30. Taiwan's Taiex was flat.

Crude Oil

Oil prices eased after the US and Iran decided to extend nuclear talks. Iran has described the latest round of talks in Geneva as constructive. Both sides will continue to hold follow-up meetings in Vienna.

West Texas Intermediate is down 0.28% to $65.03 a barrel.

FII, DII data

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold equities worth ₹3,465.99 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data. Meanwhile, Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought stocks worth ₹5,031.57 crore.

Key stocks to watch

• Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation: The stock will be in focus on Friday as the company has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NTPC to jointly explore opportunities in coal and lignite gasification and downstream utilisation.
• Netweb Technologies India: High-end computing solutions provider Netweb Technologies India has announced a partnership with Vertiv, a global leader in critical digital infrastructure, to deliver advanced liquid-cooled rack solutions for Artificial Intelligence (AI) Data Centres in India.
• MSTC: The company has emerged as the L1 bidder for the tender hosted by Coal India at the GEM portal for the appointment of an External Service Provider for conducting the Linkage Auction for the Non-Regulated Sector (NRS) for three years.