GIFT Nifty:

GIFT Nifty February 2026 futures were up 54.00 points, suggesting a green start for the Nifty 50 today.

Institutional Flows:

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 880.49 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers to the tune of Rs 596.28 crore in the Indian equity market on 19 February 2026, provisional data showed.

The FIIs have sold shares worth Rs 1,076.63 crore in the cash market so far in February (till 19 February 2026). This follows their cash sales of Rs 41,435.22 crore in January 2026 and Rs 34,349.62 crore in December.

Global Markets:

Asia markets traded mostly lower on Friday, after all three major Wall Street indexes declined overnight pressured by a drop in private credit stocks and Iran-U.S. tensions.

Prospects of a strike on Iran have risen with U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly saying that he would take a call to decide on military action against Tehran in the next 10 days. This pushed Brent Crude higher, gained 0.26%, to settle at $71.92.

In Asia, investors assessed Japan's latest inflation data. The island nation's headline inflation rate fell from 2.1% in December to 1.5% in January, its lowest level since March 2022. The reading ended a run of 45 straight months in which inflation had remained above the Bank of Japan's 2% target.

Core inflation rate, which excludes fresh food prices, eased to 2%, the lowest level since January 2024. It was down from 2.4% in December.

As per reports, despite the slowdown in headline inflation, the Bank of Japan is unlikely to delay rate hikes as fresh-food prices remain volatile, while energy costs fell after Japan scrapped its fuel tax in December.

Overnight on Wall Street, the US stocks closed lower on Thursday, pulling the S&P 500 close to flat for the year, as investors rotated out of financials and monitored escalating tensions between the US and Iran.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 267.50 points, or 0.54%, closing at 49,395.16. The S&P 500 declined 0.28%, ending at 6,861.89, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.31% to 22,682.73.

Financial stocks led the decline after Blue Owl Capital said it would tighten investor liquidity following the sale of $1.4 billion in loan assets, raising concerns about potential losses in the private credit market. Shares of Blue Owl dropped about 6%, while Blackstone and Apollo Global Management each fell more than 5%.

Software stocks also remained under pressure amid persistent worries about artificial intelligence disruption. The sector has struggled in recent weeks as investors assess how AI could reshape enterprise software demand.

Domestic Market:

In a dramatic reversal of recent gains, the Indian benchmark indices experienced a severe broad-based sell-off on Thursday, as the Sensex plummeted by 1,236 points and the Nifty 50 slipped below the 25,500 mark. This massive decline has reportedly wiped out over Rs 7.5 lakh crore in investor wealth in a single session.

The crash was triggered by several factors, including escalating geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and Iran and a sharp spike in global crude oil prices. Additionally, deep-seated uncertainty regarding the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate trajectory weighed on sentiment following its latest meeting minutes.

Despite a resilient opening, fueled by the IT sector, the market succumbed to aggressive profit booking as risk-off sentiment took hold. This dragged every major sectoral index, particularly auto, realty, and banking, into the red and the benchmark indices snapped their robust three-day winning streak.

The barometer S&P BSE Sensex declined 1.48% to close at 82,498.14. The Nifty 50 index dropped 365 points or 1.41%, to end the session at 25,454.35.

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