More Stories

Informist, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026                                      Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

---

Equity Alert: Indices seen in range; volatility in IT stocks seen continuing

MUMBAI--0830 IST--Benchmark indices are expected to be in range with a negative bias, following a sharp fall in the last two sessions. Investor sentiment remains weak and traders are likely to sell on a rise, technical analysts said. Information technology stocks are likely to be volatile this week, with some analysts expecting a rebound, while others seeing more pain for companies exposed to competition from artifical intelligence tools.
 

On Friday, the American depository receipts of technology majors Infosys and Wipro recovered some losses after falling for two straight sessions. Infosys' ADRs ended 3.6% higher and those of Wipro closed 2.6% higher. There are concerns that a rise in artificial intelligence tools will affect the earnings of traditional software makers, especially those that depend on outsourcing from the US. Analysts are waiting for announcements from the India AI Impact Summit, which starts on Monday in New Delhi. Top executives from leading technology companies such as Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic are expected to attend the summit and provide cues on demand for AI tools. 

 

At 0821 IST, the GIFT Nifty 50 indicated a muted start for the Nifty 50, with the February contract of the GIFT Nifty being 39 points lower than the Nifty 50's previous close. On Friday, the Nifty 50 index closed 1.3% lower at 25471.10 points. The BSE Sensex closed at 82626.76 points, down 1.3%. "Broader setup continues to favour a sell on rise approach unless the index decisively reclaims the 25,800 mark,. Such a move would be essential to negate the current bearish structure and trigger renewed bullish momentum. 25450–25400 zone has now evolved into a crucial make-or-break region," Dhupesh Dhameja, derivatives research analyst at SAMCO Securities, said.

 

Equity indices in the US ended mixed on Friday, with the S&P 500 snapping a three-session losing streak, but the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite closed lower after yet another decline in technology and communication services. Consumer inflation for January rose 2.4% on year basis, softer than expectations and lower than the 2.7% rise in December. Most indices in Asia were down in early trade Monday, weighed down by poor economic data from Japan, according to media reports. The country reported its economy growing 0.1% on an annualised basis in the December quarter, far below the 1.6% gain forecast as government spending dragged on activity, CNBC TV-18 said.

 

Among specific stocks, Ola Electric Mobility will be in focus after Emkay Global Financial Services downgraded the stock to 'sell' from 'buy' and cut its target price on the stock by 60% to INR 20 from INR 50. "Ola has seen a consistent volume decline and market-share loss," Emkay Global said. While the company is undertaking several measures to improve execution, cut costs, and improve brand perception amid product, these changes could be a difficult process, especially amid greater focus from incumbents and scale-up at Ather, the brokerage added.  (Eshitva Prakash)

---

Equity Alert: Barring Nasdaq, US equity indices end slightly higher Fri

 

MUMBAI--0742 IST--Equity indices in the US ended slightly higher Friday barring the Nasdaq Composite index that fell slightly due to losses in technology stocks. The impact of the weakness in technology stocks was somewhat offset by the weaker-than-expected inflation data, which increased the chances of a rate cut in June. 

 

The data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed CPI for January 2.4% on year, down 0.3 percentage point from the preiovus month, CNBC reported. "This should be welcome news for markets, and the presumptive incoming Fed Chair Kevin Warsh," Phil Blancato, Osaic chief market strategist was reported as saying. "This is only one month's worth of data, but if the trend continues it should pave a path for lower interest rates and reined in inflation," Blancato added. The possibility of a 25 basis point rate cut by the US Federal Reserve in June rose to 9.8% from 9.2% on Feb. 13, according to the CMEFedWatch tool. 

 

Disruption from artificial intelligence-affected tech stocks during the course of the week, spread to software, real estate, and financial services stocks. Shares of Morgan Stanley and Charles Schwab have fallen nearly 5% and 11%, respectively. Shares of software company Workday fell 11% and those of real estate firm CBRE fell 16% for the period. Shares of media companies too fell, with Netflix falling 6% for the week. "Investors show no mercy for anything seen as an AI loser. The list is growing by the day, driving divergence between new/old economy sectors and U.S./[Rest Of World] equities," Barclays analyst Emmanuel Cau was reported by CNBC as saying. "Amid erratic price action and fears of AI disruption turning into a broader macro/credit issue, growth, rates & earnings backdrop is okay," he added.

 

Mega tech stocks such as NVIDIA Corp. and Apple, down over 2?ch, were the biggest drag on the S&P 500, while shares of Applied Materials provided the biggest boost to the index, Reuters reported. Shares of Arista Networks rose nearly 5?ter their forecasts for annual revenue beat expectations. Shares of Applied Materials rose over 8?ter the company forecast better-than-expected numbers for their annual revenue as well.

 

The US markets will be closed on Monday on account of President's Day.

 

Following are the closing levels of US indices Friday:

 

Index	Level	Change in %
S&P 500	6836.17	0.05
NASDAQ Composite	22546.67	(-)0.22
Dow Jones Industrial Average	49500.93	0.1

 

(Akshat Saksena)

 

US$1 = INR 90.64

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

All prices from National Stock Exchange, unless otherwise specified.

All percentage changes for share prices are rounded off to the nearest whole number; percentage changes for index values are rounded off to one decimal place.

All times are Indian Standard Time.

 

NSE: National Stock Exchange
NYSE: New York Stock Exchange
NYMEX: New York Mercantile Exchange
SEBI: Securities and Exchange Board of India
RBI: Reserve Bank of India

Internet links:
Securities and Exchange Board of India - http://www.sebi.gov.in
Bombay Stock Exchange - http://www.bseindia.com
National Stock Exchange of India - http://www.nseindia.com
Directory of Indian government websites - http://goidirectory.nic.in
Indian Ministry of Finance - http://www.finmin.nic.in
Reserve Bank of India - http://rbi.org.in
Controller General of Accounts, Government of India - http://www.cga.nic.in
Government's Press Information Bureau - http://www.pib.nic.in

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.