Equity benchmarks reversed early gains to trade in the red on Thursday morning, with the Sensex and Nifty pulling back from their opening levels despite positive global cues, as selective profit booking weighed on sentiment even as banking and IT stocks provided pockets of support.
The BSE Sensex, which closed at 83,734.25 on Wednesday and opened at 83,969.82 on Thursday, was trading at 83,606.97, down ₹127.28 or 0.15 per cent, as of 9.55 am. The NSE Nifty 50, which settled at 25,819.35 in the previous session and opened at 25,873.35, slipped to 25,783.45, shedding 35.90 points or 0.14 per cent at the same time.
The pullback came despite firm global cues, with the Nasdaq rising 1.07 per cent overnight, driven in part by a multi-year strategic partnership between Nvidia and Meta spanning on-premises, cloud, and AI infrastructure. Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research at HDFC Securities, noted that…”AI winners and losers are taking centre stage as the FOMC stays cautious and Nifty eyes 26,000.” Asian equities rose in early trade, buoyed by Wall Street’s technology gains, while crude oil surged to $64 on reports of U.S. military mobilisation toward potential Iran operations.
Among the top gainers on the Nifty 50, ONGC led with a gain of 1.76 per cent, trading at ₹269.25, followed by Infosys at ₹1,391.70, up 1.31 per cent. Eicher Motors rose 1.29 per cent to ₹8,112.50, while HCL Technologies gained 1.20 per cent to ₹1,484.80 and TCS added 1.08 per cent to trade at ₹2,724.00. The recovery in IT heavyweights like Infosys, HCL Tech and TCS stood in contrast to the broader sectoral trend from Wednesday, when the IT index shed over 1.2 per cent, its steepest sectoral loss of the session.
On the losing side, IndiGo was the biggest decliner, falling 2.18 per cent to ₹4,871.60. Adani Ports dropped 0.95 per cent to ₹1,536.00, BEL declined 0.92 per cent to ₹443.60, and Asian Paints slipped 0.90 per cent to ₹2,410.20.
The metal index was Wednesday’s top sectoral performer, rallying over 1 per cent, while banking continued to underpin the market. The Bank Nifty closed at 61,550.80 on Wednesday, up 376.80 points or 0.62 per cent, and opened firmer on Thursday in the 61,650–61,700 zone. Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money, a SEBI-registered online trading and wealth tech firm, said…”Bank Nifty is likely to continue outperforming the broader market, with banking heavyweights set to lead the next leg of the rally.” He added that…”a decisive breakout above 61,700–61,800 could trigger fresh upside momentum toward the 62,000 mark.”
Institutional flows remained supportive. Foreign Institutional Investors bought equities worth ₹1,154 crore on Wednesday, marking their second consecutive session of net buying, while Domestic Institutional Investors remained net buyers for the fifth straight session, purchasing ₹440 crore. Hariprasad K, SEBI-registered Research Analyst and Founder of Livelong Wealth, noted that…”FII positioning in the derivatives segment continues to reflect a net bullish bias, reinforcing a mildly constructive undertone.”
On valuations, Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments Limited, flagged a divergence between large and mid-and-small caps. He pointed out that…”Nifty is trading at around 20 times FY27 estimated earnings while the NSE midcap and NSE smallcap indexes are trading at 28 and 24 times estimated FY27 earnings — making this a stock picker’s market.” He added that…”prospects for financials, autos, capital goods, pharmaceuticals, and hotels look good.”
Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research at Kotak Securities, said technically the market found support near 25,650 on the Nifty and 83,400 on the Sensex, noting that…”as long as the market trades above 25,600/83,300, the uptrend formation is likely to continue.” He pegged immediate resistance for traders at 25,950–26,000 on the Nifty and 84,700–85,000 on the Sensex.
In commodities, MCX Gold futures were consolidating near the ₹1,50,000–₹1,60,000 zone after correcting from record highs around ₹1,80,000–₹1,81,000, while MCX Silver traded near ₹2,30,000–₹2,50,000. On currency markets, the USD/INR pair hovered around 90.50–90.90, with the dollar index climbing to a one-week high of 97.70 following Federal Reserve meeting minutes that showed policymakers divided on next steps, with some members leaving the door open to rate hikes if inflation remains elevated.
Hitesh Tailor, Research Analyst at Choice Equity Broking, advised that…”fresh long positions should be considered only after a sustained breakout of the Nifty above 26,000, which would signal a more reliable improvement in overall market sentiment.”
Published on February 19, 2026
