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Bourses trim losses to trade flat in early afternoon session
Feb-18-2026

Indian markets trimmed most of their losses to trade flat in early afternoon session. Losses got trimmed as India and France have elevated their ties to a ‘special global strategic partnership’ with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron undertaking significant ramp up of bilateral cooperation in areas of defence, trade and technology. Besides, 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. However, traders remained cautious as weakness in IT sector stocks continued. On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green despite Japan posted a seasonally adjusted merchandise trade deficit of 1.152 trillion yen in January. That far surpassed expectations for a deficit of 2.142 trillion yen following the 113.5 billion yen surplus in December. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 83418.09, down by 32.87 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 83163.62 and 83603.56. There were 17 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.24%, Basic Materials up by 0.79%, Capital Goods up by 0.71%, Industrials up by 0.67% and FMCG was up by 0.62%, while IT down by 1.59%, TECK down by 1.03%, Consumer Disc down by 0.30%, Consumer Durables down by 0.23% and Realty was down by 0.20% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 3.15%, ITC up by 1.84%, Axis Bank up by 0.97%, Bajaj Finserv up by 0.90% and Bajaj Finance up by 0.82%. On the flip side, Eternal down by 2.27%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.26%, Infosys down by 1.55%, TCS down by 1.33% and HCL Tech down by 1.29% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, citing the recent conclusion of India-EU trade deal negotiations and India-US interim trade deal, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar has said that India is engaging with international partners more intensively from a position of strength. He also noted that the world is witnessing the weaponization of production, finance, leveraging of market shares and tightening of export controls. 

He highlighted that the world has entered a volatile and uncertain era, where the established global order is changing, and replacements are hard to create. Recently, India and US reached a framework for an Interim Agreement regarding reciprocal and mutually beneficial trade. The US also reduced tariffs on Indian goods to 18% from 50%.

Moreover, India and the European Union (EU) had concluded negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) in January 2026. The FTA will help boost two-way commerce and strengthen economic ties between the two sides.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25720.30, down by 5.10 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 25645.15 and 25759.75. There were 28 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 3.11%, ITC up by 1.77%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.54%, Grasim Industries up by 1.17% and JSW Steel up by 1.01%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 3.09%, Wipro down by 2.30%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.28%, Eternal down by 2.26% and Coal India down by 1.76% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green; Nikkei 225 surged 770.51 points or 1.34% to 57,337.00 and Jakarta Composite was up by 78.53 points or 0.96% to 8,290.80.
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