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Markets snap 3-day winning run; Nifty settles below 25,500 mark
Feb-19-2026

Snapping their three-day winning streak, Indian equity benchmarks ended Thursday’s trading session deep in red, following broad-based selling across sectors. Investor sentiment was further weighed down by escalating tensions between the US and Iran. 

Some of the important factors in trade:

Retail inflation likely to rise to 4.3% in FY27: Crisil in its latest report has said that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation or retail inflation is likely to rise to around 4.3% in fiscal year 2026-27 (FY27) from an estimated 2.5% for FY26. 

India eyes energy sources diversification; keens to import premium coking coal from US: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India is looking to diversify its sources of crude oil and coking coal and is keen to import premium-quality coking coal from the United States (US). 

India, Canada FTA talks to finalize next month: The report has said that India and Canada are expected to finalise terms of reference for initiating talks for a free trade agreement (FTA) during the visit of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to India next month. 

Govt working with academia to upskill IT workforce amid AI-driven challenges: Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that the government is aware of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven challenges in the IT sector and is working with academia to upskill, reskill and to build a new talent pipeline for this new intelligence age.   

Global front: European markets were trading lower as earnings proved to be a mixed bag and reports emerged that the U.S. military is prepared to strike Iran as early as this weekend. Asian markets closed mostly higher as regional sentiment was underpinned by easing AI concerns and a slew of upbeat U.S. economic data released overnight.

Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 1236.11 points or 1.48% to 82,498.14 and the CNX Nifty was down by 365.00 points or 1.41% to 25,454.35.      

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 83,979.36 and 82,264.20 respectively. All 30 stocks were declining on the index.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty down by 2.54%, Power down by 2.22%, Capital Goods down by 2.18%, Auto down by 2.09% and Consumer Discretionary down by 1.91%, while there was no gaining sectoral index on the BSE. 

The top losers on the Sensex were Interglobe Aviation down by 3.23%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.97%, Ultratech Cement down by 2.90%, Trent down by 2.89% and Bharat Electronics down by 2.70%, while there was no gainer on the Sensex. 

Meanwhile, Crisil in its latest report has said that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation or retail inflation is likely to rise to around 4.3% in fiscal year 2026-27 (FY27) from an estimated 2.5% for FY26. With assumption of a normal monsoon in 2026, it noted that food prices are likely to remain broadly benign, while a low base effect will push food inflation higher than FY26. It also said the reduced weight of food in the new series should limit the extent of this rise. The weight of food in the revised CPI series has declined to 36.75% from 45.86% earlier

As per the report, non-food inflation, supported by easing precious metals inflation and benign global oil and commodity prices, should restrain the overall inflation. This would allow the Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee to maintain its pause on the repo rate and focus on the transmission of the 125 bps rate cut carried out in calendar year 2025.

The report said the weight of the core CPI index has increased to 57.89% from 47.3%, strengthening its influence on the headline inflation. In the first nine months of FY26, core inflation rose faster than the headline print, led by a sharp spike in gold and silver inflation. With this high base and amid expectations of benign global oil and commodity prices, core inflation is likely to be moderate in FY27.

CNX Nifty touched high and low of 25,885.30 and 25,388.75 respectively. There were 3 stocks advancing against 48 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 3.65%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 0.65% and Hindalco up by 0.59%. On the flip side, Interglobe Aviation down by 3.28%, Ultratech Cement down by 2.97%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.93%, Bharat Electronics down by 2.84% and Trent down by 2.80% were the top losers.  

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 75.1 points or 0.7% to 10,611.08, France’s CAC fell 68.13 points or 0.81% to 8,360.90 and Germany’s DAX lost 179.51 points or 0.71% to 25,098.70.

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Thursday even as regional trading volumes stayed thin amid the Lunar New Year holidays in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Market sentiments were underpinned by Wall Streets’ gains overnight led by computer chip giant Nvidia. Rebound in technology shares, cooling concerns over artificial intelligence disruption, and a slew of upbeat US economic data have also supported market sentiments. Japanese shares advanced after a sharp depreciation in the yen, which improves the earnings outlook for the country’s export-driven sectors. The rally in Japanese stocks was also sparked by a historic 19.1% surge in core machinery orders for December 2025, the strongest monthly gain since records began in 2005. South Korea's benchmark surpassed the 5,600-point mark for the first time, led by heavyweight semiconductor names. 

Asian Indices

Last Trade            

Change in Points

Change in %      

Shanghai Composite

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--

--

Hang Seng

--

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Jakarta Composite

8,274.08

-36.15

-0.44

KLSE Composite

1,752.11

10.85

0.62

Nikkei 225

57,467.83

323.99

0.57

Straits Times

5,001.56

62.98

1.28

KOSPI Composite

5,677.25

170.24

3.09

Taiwan Weighted

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