Markets close in Green on 17th Feb '26: Nifty 50 up by 0.17% and Sensex by 0.21%; Nifty IT, FMCG and Bank Nifty Gain

The positive rate of inflation of 1.81% in January raised expectations of a rate cut, but due to FII selling, markets traded range-bound today.

Reasons for the positive sentiment

The market recovered from its early decline, with both Sensex and Nifty 50 trading in the green zone.

IT stocks like Infosys, HCL, etc, led the market's recovery.
India VIX fell by more than 2%. This indicates lower market volatility.
The rupee appreciated by 1 paisa against the dollar and is now trading at 90.73 against 1 dollar.
Brent crude fell by 0.41% and is now trading at $68.37 a barrel. This is good news for India, which imports a large portion of its oil requirements.

Indices	LTP	Prev close	Change
Nifty 50	25,725.40	25,682.75	0.17%
BSE Sensex	83,450.96	83,277.15	0.21%
Next 50	69,868.75	69,496.75	0.54%
Bank Nifty	61,174.00	60,949.10	0.37%
Fin Nifty	28,287.40	28,306.25	-0.07%

The major indices, Nifty 50 and Sensex, traded higher amid gains in IT stocks driven by a combination of global optimism and domestic triggers.
Nifty Next 50 was up due to a strong recovery in the IT and PSU Banking stocks, combined with robust domestic institutional buying.
Nifty Bank traded higher due to a rally in banking as Bank of Baroda and PNB shares jumped around 4%each.

Nifty IT traded higher amid a strong recovery in IT stocks like Infosys, OFSS, HCL Tech, etc.
Nifty Pharma traded in green after Lupin expanded its specialty pharmaceutical range and established a licensing agreement with Canada.
Nifty Oil and Gas traded in the red primarily due to cautious global sentiment and declining crude oil prices.

Cochin Shipyard emerged as the top gainer in the defence sector by rising about 6% to Rs 1,554 after being declared the lowest bidder for five Next Generation Survey Vessels for the Indian Navy.
Infosys has risen over 3% and touched an intraday high of Rs 1,407 after it partnered with AI safety and research company Anthropic.
Larsen & Toubro has touched a 52-week high today at Rs 4,240 after its wholly owned subsidiary company L&T Power Development Ltd announced plans for selling all equity and convertible instruments in Nabha Power Ltd to Torrent Power Ltd.

Company Name	LTP	Prev Close	Change
Delhivery	434.85	418.10	4.01%
Bank of Baroda	303.25	292.55	3.66%
One 97 Communications	1,169.30	1,123.10	4.11%
Punjab National Bank	124.82	120.57	3.52%
Indian Bank	920.10	888.90	3.51%

Company Name	LTP	Prev Close	Change
SRF	2,742.90	2,847.80	-3.68%
Swiggy	330.70	342.00	-3.30%
MCX	2,283.20	2,339.70	-2.41%
BSE	2,742.30	2,804.60	-2.22%
Hindustan Zinc	581.10	594.10	-2.19%

Company Name	LTP	52W high	Change
State Bank of India	1,213.40	1,225.50	0.44%
Larsen and Toubro	4,279.80	4,287.00	1.86%
Union Bank of India	188.89	190.00	3.17%
Lupin	2,247.50	2,263.00	1.17%
Astral	1,645.70	1,653.00	0.36%

JSW Infrastructure announced that its board would be meeting on February 20 to consider fundraising.
Texmaco Rail & Engineering bagged a Rs 219.18 crore order for design, supply, installation, testing, and commissioning of signalling equipment for a proposed railway line under Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation's MUTP-IIIA project.