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Key indices trade lower in morning deals
Feb-18-2026

Indian equity benchmarks were trading lower in morning deals, tracking losses in IT and TECK stocks amid renewed artificial intelligence worries. Traders overlooked Secretary in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) S Krishnan’s statement that the government has invested in developing indigenous and sovereign artificial intelligence models to address concerns related to bias and to ensure that India has AI systems primarily trained on Indian data. Also, traders paid no heed towards exchange data showed foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net buyers and purchased equities worth Rs 995.21 crore, on Tuesday. On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. Markets in China, Hong Kong and several regional exchanges remained closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.  

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 83236.14, down by 214.82 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 83163.62 and 83603.56. There were 12 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.14%, Basic Materials up by 0.69%, Telecom up by 0.42%, PSU up by 0.31% and FMCG up by 0.26%, while IT down by 2.00%, TECK down by 1.31%, Realty down by 0.68%, Consumer Durables down by 0.57% and Consumer discretionary down by 0.31% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.34%, ITC up by 0.98%, SBI up by 0.65%, Bajaj Finserv up by 0.55% and Bajaj Finance up by 0.49%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 2.46%, Infosys down by 2.29%, HCL Technologies down by 1.99%, TCS down by 1.76% and Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.56% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Nirmala Sitharaman has held talks with Norway Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg on potential collaboration in renewable energy, especially on solar power, rare earth processing, and carbon capture and storage. In her bilateral meeting with the Union Finance Minister in Oslo, Stoltenberg said that India's economic growth offers lots of opportunities to invest and grow.

Both leaders decided to work towards leveraging the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA), particularly in the areas of blue economy, green economy, as well as investment by Sovereign Wealth and pension Funds.  

Besides, Stoltenberg shared with Sitharaman that Norway is looking forward to the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled for later in the year, and expressed hope that it would further strengthen India-Norway ties.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25673.00, down by 52.40 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 25645.15 and 25759.75. There were 21 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 2.44%, JSW Steel up by 1.02%, Hindalco up by 1.01%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.01% and ITC up by 1.00%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.70%, Infosys down by 2.31%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.24%, Wipro down by 1.86% and HCL Technologies down by 1.67% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading higher; Nikkei 225 surged 770.51 points or 1.36% to 57,337.00 and Jakarta Composite gained 77.87 points or 0.95% to 8,290.14.
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