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Informist, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026                                      Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

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Equity Alert: Emkay upgrades IndusInd Bk to 'buy', ups target price by 38%

 

MUMBAI--0849 IST--Emkay Global upgraded the stock of IndusInd Bank to 'buy' and raised the target price by 38% to INR 1,100 from INR 800. The brokerage is confident on the management's decisive push on fixing structural gaps by reorienting the asset-liability mix, strengthening governance, and rebuilding leadership, thereby setting the stage for a sustained turnaround, Emkay said. 

 

IndusInd Bank has turned profitable in the December quarer after reporting a loss in the September quarter, and has given guidance for system-in-line credit growth and an exit return on assets of around 1% in 2026-27 (Apr-Mar), Emkay said. The return on assets of the company is expected to further improve 1.3-1.5% over FY28-FY29, the brokerage said. Improving margin and asset quality in the sector and favourable sentiment toward large private sector banks further aided IndusInd Bank's stock re-rating, Emkay added. 

 

After a sub-par phase between 2003 and 2008, the bank saw a sharp transformation under then managing director, Romesh Sobti, for nearly a decade. "However, over time, the pursuit of a higher RoA (return on assets) resulted in higher risks, balance-sheet inefficiencies, and weaker governance," the brokerage said. After the infrastructure leasing and financial services debt default crisis in 2018, Sumant Kathpalia took charge as managing director. His tenure was volatile amid systemic shocks, microfinance stress, and then the derivatives' fiasco. This led to senior management exits from the bank, according to Emkay.

 

In August 2025, Rajiv Anand, a veteran banker from Axis Bank, took charge as the managing director of IndusInd Bank. "The new MD (managing director) is rebuilding a senior leadership team with high integrity, strengthening credit-risk and HR functions, and rightfully integrating the asset-liability vertical in a ‘One IndusInd Bank' framework," Emkay said. The brokerage also said that the new leadership has already started a balance sheet clean-up to reduce asset quality risks over into FY27. Emkay believes this foundational reset will restore balance-sheet discipline and enable a sustainable recovery phase from FY27. 

 

On Thursday, shares of IndusInd Bank ended nearly 2% lower at INR 927.35 on the National Stock Exchange. The stock fell Thursday after rising for four consecutive sessions.  (Adhithya Aji)

 

 

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Equity Alert:Most Asian mkts lower tracking US peers; KOSPI hits fresh highs

 

MUMBAI--0842 IST--Equity markets in Asia were mostly lower in early trade, barring South Korea's KOSPI, which recorded fresh highs along with FTSE Singapore Straits Times. The fall in the region's markets were in line with its counterparts in the US, which ended lower Thursday. Investors will monitor the escalating tensions between Iran and the US over the former's nuclear programme. Markets in China and Shanghai remained closed, with the markets in Hang Seng opening lower in their first session after the Lunar New Year break. 

 

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that he will take a decision on possible military action against Iran in the next 10 days. "So now we may have to take it a step further, or we may not," he said at the inaugural Board of Peace meeting in Washington, adding, "Maybe we're going to make a deal. You're going to be finding out over the next probably 10 days."

 

Japan's headline inflation rate fell to 1.5% in January, its lowest level since March 2022, CNBC reported. This was the first time in 45 months that the inflation reading came in below the target of 2% set by the Bank of Japan. The core inflation rate, exclusive of fresh food prices, eased to 2% from 2.4% in December. This was its lowest level since January 2024 and was in line with forecasts by economists polled by Reuters. The slowdown was led by a decline in fresh food, raw meat, and fresh flower prices along with a sharp decline in petroleum products, CNBC said. The year-on-year rise in consumer prices is expected to fall below 2% in the first half of 2026 on the back of stabilising food prices and government efforts to ease cost of living, the Bank of Japan was reported as saying. 

 

The KOSPI rose to record highs and was not influenced by the global weakness in markets. The rise in the South Korean index was led by high earnings forecasts for artificial intelligence semiconductors and a strong performance by domestic defence and ship-building stocks, The Chosun Daily reported. This was due to a reorganisation of global energy supply chains and increased demand for military expansion due to tensions in West Asia. Shares of Hanwha Aerospace Co. were up over 5% and those of SK Hynix were up over 3%. However, shares of Samsung Electronics Co. were slightly lower.

  

Following are the levels of key Asian indices at 0817 IST:

 

INDEX	LEVEL	CHANGE IN %
KOSPI	5757.41	1.41
Nikkei 225 Day	56727.96	(-)1.29
TOPIX FIRST SECTION	3797.80	(-)1.41
FTSE Singapore Straits Times	5006.52	0.10
S&P/ASX 200 Index	9070.30	(-)0.17
Hang Seng Index	26491.05	(-)0.80

 

(Akshat Saksena)

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Equity Alert: Indices seen in range; sentiment weak on US-Iran tensions

 

MUMBAI--0830 IST--Benchmark indices are expected to be in range after a sharp fall Thursday amid weak investor sentiment. Fears of an escalation in the US-Iran tensions and an overnight decline in the US market and a fall in equity indices across Asia in early trade may fuel further bearish bets. Investors may react strongly to shares of oil and gas companies after the April futures contract of Brent crude oil touched its highest level in nearly seven months at $72.16 per barrel earlier in the day, as oil operations in the Strait of Hormuz faced the risk of disruption.

 

US President Donald Trump Thursday said he would take a call on deciding on military action against Iran in the next 10 days, BBC reported. Recently, the US has increased its military presence in West Asia, according to media reports. "It's proven to be, over the years, not easy to make a meaningful deal with Iran," Trump said at the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace in Washington DC. "Otherwise bad things happen." At 0729 IST, the April futures contract of Brent crude oil was slightly higher at $71.86 per barrel. The contract has risen 6.5% in the last three days due to escalating tensions in West Asia.

 

Shares of information technology companies are expected to be under pressure, tracking a decline in their peers in the US. The American Depository Receipts of IT majors Infosys and Wipro fell 3.3% and 2.6%, respectively. Fears of disruptions from AI have led to a decline in IT stocks globally and analysts are split about the long-term view for domestic IT players.

 

Overnight, indices in the US closed lower with the S&P 500 declining 0.3%, weighed down by a fall in financial services and software stocks. Investors moved out of private credit stocks after alternative assets manager Blue Owl Capital said it's going to tighten investor liquidity, spurring worries about losses in the private loans area, CNBC reported. 

 

In early trade Friday, most equity indices in Asia fell. Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 1.3%, weighed by utilities stocks, CNBC reported. The broader Topix index was 1.4% lower. South Korea's KOSPI rose 1.5%, hitting yet another record high on the back of gains in stocks of defence companies and chipmakers. Equity markets in mainland China were closed on account of the Lunar New Year holiday, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index, which opened after a three-day holiday, dropped almost 1% in early trade.

 

At 0830 IST, the GIFT Nifty 50 indicates a further fall of the Nifty 50. The February contract of the GIFT Nifty was 14 points lower than the Nifty 50's previous close. On Thursday, the Nifty 50 index closed 1.4% lower at 25454.35 points. The BSE Sensex closed at 82498.14 points, down 1.5%. The 50-stock index is likely to face resistance at 25500 points and may find support at 25200 points, Rupak De, technical analyst at LKP Securities, said.(Eshitva Prakash)

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Equity Alert: US mkts end lower; S&P 500, Dow Jones snap 3-day winning streak

 

MUMBAI--0753 IST--Equity indices in the US ended lower Thursday, with the S&P 500 index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average index snapping gains after three sessions. Investors' focus shifted from stocks of financial companies amid the tensions between the US and Iran. 

 

Investors shifted out of private credit stocks after private market and alternative assets manager Blue Owl Capital said it is going to tighten investor liquidity following a sale of loan assets worth $1.4 billion, CNBC reported. This prompted concerns from investors about losses in the private loans area. Shares of the company ended nearly 6% lower, with stocks of Blackstone and Apollo Global Management also falling over 5?ch. 

 

Stocks of software companies also came under pressure over fears of artificial intelligence disrupting their operations. Chief Executive Officer of Mistral AI Arthur Mensch said more than 50% of enterprises' software could be replaced by AI, CNBC reported. Shares of Salesforce, Intuit, and Cadence Design Systems fell 1-3%.

 

Tensions between Iran and US over the former's nuclear programme is keeping markets on the edge. US President Donald Trump Thursday said he was going to determine whether to launch military strikes on Iran in the next 10 days, CNBC reported. "So now we may have to take it a step further, or we may not," he said at the inaugural Board of Peace meeting, adding, "Maybe we're going to make a deal. You're going to be finding out over the next probably 10 days."

 

Walmart fell over 1% during the session despite beating estimates for its December quarter earnings. This comes as the company's new Chief Executive Officer John Furner gave a conservative outlook for the coming year, expecting net sales to rise 3.5-4.5% against expectations of an outlook of 5% by LSEG, Reuters reported. The company also announced a $30 billion share buyback plan. 

 

Data showed the initial jobless claims fell 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 206,000 for the week ended Saturday, Reuters reported. This was below the forecast of 225,000 claims by economists polled by Reuters. This marked a significant decline since the claims surged to 232,000 at the end of January.

 

Following are the closing levels of US indices Thursday:  

 

Index	Level	Change in %
S&P 500	6861.89	(-)0.28
NASDAQ Composite	22682.73	(-)0.31
Dow Jones Industrial Average	49395.16	(-)0.54

 

(Akshat Saksena)

 

US$1 = INR 90.94

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

 

Edited by Tanima Banerjee

 

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.

 

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