Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth ₹3,809.99 crore on Tuesday while domestic institutional investors bought stocks worth ₹4,120.07 crore, according to NSE data. 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. 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.

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 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 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. The mixed performance across the region reflected differing local economic signals and the continued impact of global commodity price swings.

US stocks ended on a mixed note with the Dow Jones Industrial Average declining 0.36%, the S&P 500 index ending unchanged while the tech‑heavy Nasdaq index advanced 0.45%. The Nasdaq surged to a record high on optimism around Meta Platforms Inc.’s new artificial intelligence agent, Muse. Meta has been testing a “human concierge” for its new personal AI assistant, Muse, which entails having human contractors quietly handle some of the phone calls placed via the digital agent, according to internal company posts seen by Reuters.

Crude oil fell for a second straight session and traded below $100 per barrel on expectations of a diplomatic solution to the US‑Iran war through talks at the UN in New York. 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. While US President Donald Trump warned on Tuesday that he could “annihilate” Iran, he also said his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had held productive talks with mediators of Iran to end the war, Reuters report added.

Stocks to watch include RHI Magnesita, where Dalmia Bharat Refractories divested more than an 11% stake in RHI Magnesita India for ₹826 crore through an open market transaction, selling 2,29,41,224 shares. Pine Labs saw Mastercard exit by selling its entire 4.31% stake for ₹933 crore in 13 tranches, with shares offloaded at an average price of ₹187.75. Engineers India signed a contract worth more than $450 million to serve as EPCM consultant for Dangote Group’s planned 7,00,000‑barrel‑per‑day refinery in Kenya. HCL Technologies secured a contract from M Group to transform IT operations across 200 locations using its AI Force platform. Persistent Systems acquired an additional 61.15% stake in German digital engineering firm Nagarro SE, bringing its total stake to 83.25%.