Source: NSE, Dalal Street Investment Journal
On Monday, February 16, India’s key equity benchmarks opened soft amid muted global cues. The Nifty 50 slipped below Friday’s low and, at one stage, also dipped under the 20 DMA. However, buyers stepped in at lower levels, and the index staged a sharp recovery. As the session progressed, the market gathered momentum and closed near the day’s high. Sentiment improved on strong buying in index heavyweights HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries, while firm Dow Jones futures also provided support.
At the close, the Nifty 50 ended up 211.65 points, or 0.83%, at 25,682.75. The Sensex rose about 650 points, or 0.79%, to move back above the key 83,000 mark. The Nifty 50 also posted its sharpest single-day move since the India-US trade deal announcement, while the Sensex snapped a three-day losing streak. Bank stocks led the rally, with the Nifty Bank outperforming and gaining 1.27%.
Sectoral Indices Performance: Nifty Energy Emerged as Top Gainer, Nifty IT Ended in Green
On the sectoral front, two of the 11 key sectoral indices ended in the red. Nifty Energy was the top performer, rising nearly 2%. The Nifty IT index also closed higher, snapping a three-day losing streak. The IT index had been under pressure amid a sharp sell off on concerns that AI tools could disrupt traditional application development, testing, and maintenance services.
Broader markets also ended in the green. The Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices gained 0.48% and 0.11%, respectively.
WPI Inflation Inched Up
India’s wholesale price inflation, measured by the WPI, rose to 1.81% in January, up from 0.83% in December, pushing it to a nine-month high. The increase was largely led by costlier basic metals, other manufactured products, textiles, and a rise in prices of non-food and food articles.
IPO Listing on February 16: Fractal Analytics and Aye Finance IPO
Fractal Analytics IPO made a subdued debut, listing at a 3% discount to its issue price of ₹900. The stock later extended losses and ended nearly 6% lower.
Aye Finance IPO also saw a muted listing at ₹129. The stock finished the session marginally in the red.
Stock-Specific Highlights on February 16: L&T, Coal India, Engineers India and SBI
Among individual stocks,
Larsen & Toubro's share price touched a fresh 52-week high and moved past ₹4,200 after the company signed a Securities Purchase Agreement to sell its entire stake in Nabha Power Limited to Torrent Power for ₹3,660.87 crore.
Coal India's share price rose over 3% after the company said in an exchange filing that it has spent ₹961 crore on solar capex up to January 2026. It also said it aims to set up 3,000 MW of solar capacity by FY28 and to become a net-zero entity by FY28.
Engineers India (EIL) share price surged over 12%, marking its strongest single-day gain in nearly three years, after the company reported its Q3FY26 results. EIL said order inflows up to the third quarter of FY26 stood at ₹4,267 crore. It also added that it won an additional order worth about ₹3,250 crore in January 2026, taking total inflows so far to nearly ₹7,700 crore. With this, the current order book is around ₹15,670 crore, the highest level in the company’s history.
India’s largest public sector lender, SBI, hit a fresh 52-week high on Monday, February 16.
Nifty 50: Top Pullers and Draggers of the Day
The key drivers of the index gains were:
On the other hand, these stocks weighed on the index:
Market Breadth
As of February 16, 2026, the market breadth was in favour of declining stocks. Out of 3,265 stocks traded on the NSE, 1,343 advanced, 1,827 declined, and 95 remained unchanged.
A total of 51 stocks touched their 52-week highs, while 148 hit their 52-week lows. Additionally, 60 stocks were locked in their upper circuits, whereas 84 stocks were locked in lower circuits.