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Trendlyne Marketwatch
20 Feb 2026
Market closes higher amid broad-based buying outside the IT sector
By Trendlyne Analysis

 

Nifty 50 closed at 25,571.25 (116.9, 0.5%), BSE Sensex closed at 82,814.71 (316.6, 0.4%) while the broader Nifty 500 closed at 23,395 (97.6, 0.4%). Market breadth is in the red. Of the 2,741 stocks traded today, 1,171 were in the positive territory and 1,517 were negative.

Indian indices closed higher after rising in the morning session. The Indian volatility index, Nifty VIX, rose 6.7% and closed at 14.4 points. India’s Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to a 3-month high of 59.3 in February from 58.4 in January, driven by strong demand for goods, local tourism and growing exports.

Nifty Smallcap 100 closed lower, while Nifty Midcap 100 closed higher. BSE Power and Nifty PSU Bank were among the top index gainers today. According to Trendlyne’s sector dashboard, General Industrials emerged as the best-performing sector of the day, with a rise of 1.3%.

Asian indices closed mixed. European indices are trading higher, except for Portugal’s PSI. US index futures are trading higher, indicating a positive start to the trading session. Investors await the release of US GDP and Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) data due today. Brent crude futures are trading lower after rising 1.9% on Thursday.

  • Money flow index (MFI) indicates that stocks like Brainbees Solutions, Aptus Value Housing and Info Edge (India) are in the oversold zone.

  • Allied Blenders & Distillers' MD Alok Gupta expects to raise EBITDA margin to 18% by FY28, fueled by the India-UK trade deal and the expansion of premium spirits. He adds that the trade deal will lower the tariff on imported bulk scotch whiskey to 75% from 150%.

  • Zee Entertainment Enterprises is falling as the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) reportedly issues a show-cause notice to the company, alleging fund diversion and lapses in governance.

  • DEE Development Engineers surges over 7% as it receives an order worth $40 million (~Rs 364 crore) from an international power sector original equipment manufacturer to supply process piping solutions for multiple heat recovery steam generator projects.

  • Macquarie maintains an 'Underperform' rating on United Spirits with a target price of Rs 1,350. The brokerage maintains a cautious view, citing Maharashtra’s tax hikes as a drag on sales and volumes. It flags rising bulk scotch prices as a key margin risk for United Spirits, with volume growth likely to remain subdued. However, it expects the broader market to sustain strong momentum over the next two quarters.

  • ICICI Prudential Life Insurance receives a GST demand worth Rs 984.1 crore from the GST Authority, Mumbai, for unpaid taxes from July 2017 to July 2022.

  • Swiggy is falling as it reportedly shuts down Snacc, its standalone 15-minute food delivery app, citing intense competition and financial pressures. The app was launched in January 2025 to offer quick delivery of snacks, beverages, and ready-to-eat items.

  • Geojit BNP Paribas upgrades Healthcare Global Enterprises to a 'Buy' call from 'Accumulate', with a target price of Rs 724 per share. This indicates a potential upside of 24.1%. The brokerage believes that the company is well-positioned to deliver strong top-line growth over the next two-three years, led by continued improvement in average revenue per patient (ARPP) and bed additions. It expects the firm to deliver a revenue CAGR of 15.2% over FY26-28.

  • Morgan Stanley maintains an 'Overweight' rating on Reliance Industries (RIL) with a target price of Rs 1,803. The brokerage says RIL’s plan to invest about $110 billion in AI, energy, and digital over seven years marks a major capital allocation shift. It expects the AI-led business to be significantly more profitable, potentially delivering over 12% ROCE—about double the returns from telecom or retail.

  • Midwest Gold's board of directors approves the preferential issue of 10 lakh equity shares worth Rs 200 crore at an issue price of Rs 2,000 per share.

  • NTPC Green Energy expands its capacity by adding 165 MW of the 1,200 MW Khadva-II solar project. This takes the company's total capacity to 9 GW.

  • Bajaj Finserv’s alternative investment arm, Bajaj Alternate Investment Management, plans to raise up to $1 billion to expand its platform beyond lending, mutual funds, and insurance into non-traditional asset classes. The platform aims to diversify beyond traditional financial services, with capital deployment set to begin next fiscal year.

  • Defence stocks such as Data Patterns and Bharat Dynamics rise after Emmanuel Macron says that France and India are planning to jointly manufacture Rafale jets and helicopters. He added that India’s expected order for 114 Rafales marks a significant step in bilateral defence ties, with hopes of extending cooperation to submarines as well.

  • Federal Bank is rising as it is set to receive a tax refund of Rs 686.3 crore for the AY11-14 from IT Department, Kochi.

  • CIE Automotive India's Q3FY26 net profit grows 10.4% YoY to Rs 204.3 crore, supported by lower finance costs and inventory destocking. Revenue jumps 12.8% to Rs 2,416.9 crore, led by improvements in the Indian and European markets. It appears in a screener of stocks with high momentum scores.

  • SBI Mutual Fund sells 4.1 lakh shares in ESAB India worth Rs 226.1 crore at an average price of Rs 5,500 per share through a bulk deal. Nippon India Mutual Fund picks up the shares.

  • Crude oil prices climb to a six-month high of about $66–71 per barrel, buoyed by a $10–12 war premium as US–Iran tensions escalate. US President Trump set a 10–15 day deadline for Iran to negotiate a nuclear deal, warning of possible strikes, intensifying volatility and concerns over supply disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, joint Russian-Iranian naval drills in the Gulf of Oman have further heightened tensions.

  • ABB India is rising sharply as its Q3FY26 revenue grows 5.3% YoY to Rs 3,633.3 crore, driven by improvements in the motion, electrification and process automation segments. However, net profit declines 18.1% to Rs 432.9 crore due to higher raw materials, sub-contracting, and employee benefits expenses. It features in a screener of stocks with increasing revenue for the past three quarters.

  • Karur Vysya Bank cuts its marginal cost of lending rate (MCLR) by 10 bps across all tenures, effective February 22. The revised MCLR, applicable to loans, now ranges from 8.8% to 9.1%.

  • Novartis India's promoter, Novartis AG, surges to its 20% upper circuit as it enters an agreement to sell a 70.7% stake worth Rs $159 million (~Rs 1,446.3 crore) in the company to a consortium including WaveRise Investments.

  • India’s composite PMI rises to a 3-month high of 59.3 in February from 58.4 in January, signaling robust demand for goods. The uptick was driven by a sharp rise in new orders, which grew at the fastest pace since November. Firms credited strong demand, local tourism, and marketing initiatives for the gains. International sales also expanded at their quickest rate in five months, further supporting overall demand.

  • 5Paisa Capital is rising sharply as its board of directors schedules a meeting for February 24 to consider a proposal to raise funds by issuing equity shares or other securities.

  • Texmaco Rail & Engineering forms a joint venture (JV) with Rail Vikas Nigam to expand its engineering, procurement & construction (EPC) and turnkey infrastructure project footprint in India.

  • GHV Infra Projects surges as it secures an order worth Rs 123 crore from Enmas EPC Power Projects for supplying materials and completing installation and commissioning for a 28.8 megawatt-peak grid-connected rooftop solar project.

  • Waaree Energies is rising as it is in discussions with the Andhra Pradesh government and other states to set up a greenfield battery manufacturing facility with a proposed investment of Rs 8,175 crore. The planned facility will have a capacity of 16 gigawatt-hours and will cover the full battery value chain, including cell manufacturing, battery pack assembly, and Battery Energy Storage Systems.

  • Nifty 50 was trading at 25,435.55 (-18.8, -0.1%), BSE Sensex was trading at 82,272.49 (-225.7, -0.3%), while the broader Nifty 500 was trading at 23,274 (-23.5, -0.1%).

  • Market breadth is in the red. Of the 2,161 stocks traded today, 719 showed gains, and 1,359 showed losses.

Riding High:

Largecap and midcap gainers today include Hyundai Motor India Ltd. (2,293.40, 5.2%), Thermax Ltd. (3,151.80, 4.8%) and ABB India Ltd. (5,987, 4.7%).

Downers:

Largecap and midcap losers today include Persistent Systems Ltd. (5,092, -3.3%), Kwality Wall's (India) Ltd. (27.73, -3.0%) and Info Edge (India) Ltd. (1,074.80, -1.8%).

Volume Rockets

10 stocks in BSE 500 are trading on high volumes today.

Top high volume gainers on BSE included Hyundai Motor India Ltd. (2,293.40, 5.2%), ABB India Ltd. (5,987, 4.7%) and Granules India Ltd. (599.05, 3.6%).

Top high volume loser on BSE was Carborundum Universal Ltd. (843.55, -0.1%).

Brainbees Solutions Ltd. (219.35, 2.6%) was trading at 8.7 times of weekly average. Data Patterns (India) Ltd. (2,984.60, 2.4%) and Siemens Ltd. (3,206.20, 3.2%) were trading with volumes 6.9 and 5.1 times weekly average respectively on BSE at the time of posting this article.

BSE 500: highs, lows and moving averages

8 stocks overperformed with 52 week highs, while 25 stocks were underachievers and hit their 52 week lows.

Stocks touching their year highs included - NTPC Ltd. (372.95, 2.7%), Oil And Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (278.65, 1.5%) and Vardhman Textiles Ltd. (536.45, 2.6%).

Stocks making new 52 weeks lows included - Bata India Ltd. (811.90, -1.7%) and Cyient Ltd. (988.60, -0.5%).

11 stocks climbed above their 200 day SMA including Hyundai Motor India Ltd. (2,293.40, 5.2%) and Siemens Ltd. (3,206.20, 3.2%). 16 stocks slipped below their 200 SMA including Inventurus Knowledge Solutions Ltd. (1,594.40, -3.9%) and Metropolis Healthcare Ltd. (1,860.10, -2.1%).

 
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