Indian equities ended Wednesday’s trading session on a cautious yet positive note, with the Nifty registering gains for the fourth consecutive day. However, the rally showed signs of fatigue after the recent sharp up-move, indicating consolidation near higher levels.
Defensive sectors provided stability, while IT stocks faced selling pressure. Pharma and Auto stocks outperformed, and overall risk appetite improved as India VIX cooled to 11.56, signalling reduced market fear.
🧾 Benchmark Indices – Closing Snapshot (3:30 PM)
- NIFTY 50: ▲ +19 pts → 25,954
- SENSEX: ▼ -40 pts → 84,234
- BANK NIFTY: ▲ +119 pts → 60,745
📌 Market breadth remained neutral, with advances and declines nearly balanced — a clear sign of consolidation at elevated levels.
🔎 Market Takeaways
- Nifty is trading near its highest level since 7 January 2026
- Momentum is slowing despite higher highs
- The rally is currently flow-driven rather than broad-based
- Advance–Decline ratio: 23 : 27 (muted participation)
- FIIs turned buyers in February with inflows of ₹5,558 crore — a major positive
👉 Structurally strong, tactically fragile market 👉 Any reversal in foreign flows could trigger a sharp pullback
🌍 Global Triggers to Watch Closely
Markets will now track crucial US macro data that can influence global liquidity and near-term trends:
1️⃣ Delayed US January Non-Farm Payrolls (Jobs Data) 2️⃣ US CPI Inflation (Friday) — critical for Federal Reserve rate expectations
📌 These data points will play a decisive role in global risk sentiment.
📈 Technical Picture – Nifty Outlook
Nifty continues to trade comfortably above all key moving averages, maintaining a positive structure while consolidating.
- Above 21 DMA: 25,484
- Above 50 DMA: 25,787
- Above 100 DMA: 25,679
- Above 200 DMA: 25,280
Trend: Positive but consolidating
🔑 Key Levels
- Support: 25,800 / 25,650
- Resistance: 26,000 / 26,175
- Expected Range: 25,802 – 26,022
📌 Preferred Strategy: Buy on dips remains intact.
🏦 Bank Nifty Update
Bank Nifty traded sideways with a positive bias after recently hitting its all-time high of 61,764.85.
⚠️ Financials are not leading the rally, which explains the lack of strong index momentum despite Nifty’s strength.
🧠 Sectoral Performance
✅ Top Performing Sectors
- Healthcare: ▲ 1.62%
- Auto: ▲ 1.30%
- PSU Banks: ▲ 1.03%
❌ Underperforming Sectors
- IT: ▼ 1.76%
- Private Banks: ▼ 0.16%
📊 Broader Market Check
- Midcap: ▲ 0.03%
- Smallcap: ▲ 0.02%
📌 Broader indices are holding steady — a healthy sign with no panic selling.
💰 Currency & Derivatives Snapshot
- India VIX: 11.54 (Low risk sentiment)
- Nifty PCR (17 Feb): 0.89
- Nifty PCR (24 Feb): 1.18
- USD/INR Futures: 90.73 ▲ 0.12%
🔥 Stocks in Spotlight
- Eicher Motors ▲ 6.46% — Strong Q3 results; profit up 21% YoY
- Titan ▼ 0.73% — Profit booking despite profit growth of 60%
- Mahindra & Mahindra — Profit ▲ 47% YoY with strong revenue growth
- Britannia Industries ▲ 2.62% — Stable earnings performance
- ZF CV Control Systems ▲ 4.9% — Healthy operational performance
- Avantel ▲ 2.7% — ₹122.58 crore defence–space order
- Power Mech Projects — Profit up 14.6% YoY
- HBL Engineering — ₹800 crore KAVACH railway safety contract
🐂 Bulls & 🐻 Bears of the Day
🐂 Bulls
Eicher Motors, Apollo Hospitals, Max Healthcare, SBI, Maruti Suzuki
🐻 Bears
TCS, Infosys, Coal India, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra
🏆 52-Week Highs & Lows
52-Week Highs: Ashok Leyland, Belrise Industries, Grasim, IOC
52-Week Low: Berger Paints
📌 Market Outlook for Thursday
Nifty is hovering near the psychological 26,000 mark, but fresh triggers are required to sustain upside.
🔮 Short-Term View
- Sideways to mildly positive
- Volatility likely post US data
📈 Medium-Term View
- Bullish as long as 25,650 support holds
💡 Trading & Investment Watchlist
Bullish (Positional)
- Eternal
- Ashok Leyland
- DLF
Bullish (Long Term)
- Centum Electronics
- Adani Energy Solutions
- Syrma SGS
Weak / Avoid
- ITC
- Infosys
- TCS
- Ambuja Cement
- Shree Cement
- PFC
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