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Post Session: Quick Review
Feb-17-2026

Indian equity benchmarks ended in positive terrain on Tuesday, supported by gains in IT and TECK stocks. After a slightly negative start, soon indices turned positive as traders remained optimistic about developments in the India-US trade deal. Nifty’s F&O expiry triggered some volatility in afternoon session, but the markets managed to close higher.

Some of the important factors in trade:

India, US to finalise legal text for interim trade agreement: Some support came as Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said that a team of Indian officials will visit the U.S. next week to finalise the legal text for an interim trade agreement, which is likely to be signed in March. 

Trade deals with US, EU open $400 billion opportunity for India’s agriculture: Traders took some support after a report stated that trade agreements with the US and the 27-nation bloc European Union (EU) have opened up an opportunity of $400 billion for India's agriculture sector. 

India’s merchandise exports rise 0.61% to $36.56 billion in January: Traders took note of the commerce ministry’s data which showed that India’s merchandise exports rose marginally by 0.61 per cent to $36.56 billion in January 2026 as compared to $36.34 billion in January 2025. 

On the global front: European equity markets were trading in green, amid easing geopolitical tensions in Iran and Russia. Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended lower, while markets in mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, and South Korea were closed for the Lunar New Year holidays.

The BSE Sensex ended at 83450.96, up by 173.81 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 82987.43 and 83598.00. There were 17 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.15%, Industrials up by 1.13%, FMCG up by 0.87%, Consumer Durables up by 0.85% and Capital Goods up by 0.76%, while Metal down by 0.93%, Basic Materials down by 0.26%, Realty down by 0.23%, and Energy down by 0.10% were the few losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 2.33%, Bharat Electronics up by 1.96%, Infosys up by 1.83%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.74% and Asian Paints up by 1.67%. On the flip side, Eternal down by 1.52%, Tata Steel down by 1.31%, Trent down by 1.28%, Reliance Industries down by 0.87% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.59% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) in its Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) has showed the unemployment rate among people aged 15 and above grew moderately to 5% in the month of January 2026 from 4.8% in December 2025. Besides, the survey highlighted that the decline in lower labour force participation rate (LFPR) and Worker Population Ratio (WPR), and rise in unemployment rate was primarily rural-driven, with seasonal factors, post-harvest slack, and discouragement effects playing a key role.

During January, the unemployment rate across both Urban and Rural India saw a moderate increase. In Rural India, the unemployment rate inched up to 4.2% in January 2026 from 3.9% in December 2025, while it rose to 7.0% in January 2026 across Urban India from 6.7% in December 2025. The joblessness continued to remain stable among males, while it was higher among females in January 2026 than in December 2025. The unemployment rate among females remained within the range observed during the period April to December 2025, indicating a short-term increase rather than a significant weakening of female labour market conditions. 

The overall LFPR among persons of age 15 years and above declined to 55.9% in January 2026 from 56.1% in December 2025. The LFPR in Rural India dropped to 58.7% in January 2026 from 59.0% in December 2025. In contrast, the LFPR in Urban India grew to 50.3 in January 2026 from 50.2% in December 2025. Meanwhile, overall WPR among those aged 15 years and above exhibited a broad stability in January 2026. Following a gradual increase in rural WPR since June 2025 (53.3%) to December 2025 (56.7%), it declined marginally to 56.2% in January 2026. In rural areas, male and female WPR stood at 75.7% and 38.0%, respectively, in January as against the respective figures of 76.0% and 38.6% in the preceding month. Urban WPR remained stable across genders with 70.5% for males, 23.0% for females and 46.8% at overall level in January.

The CNX Nifty ended at 25725.40, up by 42.65 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 25570.30 and 25764.40. There were 28 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises up by 2.74%, ITC up by 2.23%, Bharat Electronics up by 2.01%, Infosys up by 1.87% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.77%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 1.91%, Eternal down by 1.67%, Tata Steel down by 1.42%, Trent down by 1.41% and Shriram Finance down by 1.14% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 44.91 points or 0.43% to 10,518.60, Germany’s DAX gained 97.39 points or 0.39% to 24,898.30 and France’s CAC rose 14.4 points or 0.17% to 8,330.90.

Japan’s Nikkie index settled lower on Tuesday as the yen strengthened toward 153 per dollar with growing speculation that the Bank of Japan will raise interest rates as early as April 2026. Besides, soft Japanese GDP data released on Monday and a significant sell-off in technology and artificial intelligence-related stocks have dented sentiments. Further, Japanese shares weakened amid thinned trading following yesterday’s US holiday, while most markets in Asia were closed for Lunar New Year holidays. Meanwhile, investors were awaiting for release of US economic readings, including gross domestic product data, PCE inflation figures and minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting.

Japan’s Nikkei closed down by 239.92 points or 0.42% to 56,566.49.
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