Bengaluru, Feb 16, 2026, 22:31 IST — The market has shut down for the day.
- Nifty 50 picked up 0.83% to finish at 25,682.75. The Sensex notched up a 0.79% rise, closing at 83,277.15.
- Banks and energy shares staged a late comeback, taking some of the strain off after last week’s drop driven by IT.
- Capital-markets stocks stayed jittery with RBI’s stricter bank-lending rules for brokers set to kick in April 1.
India’s Nifty 50 climbed 0.83% to 25,682.75 on Monday, while the Sensex finished up 0.79% at 83,277.15, snapping a two-day slide. Buyers came back to heavyweight banks and energy stocks after losses triggered by a pullback in IT names.
The rebound lands while tech stocks are still jittery, last week’s steep slide fresh in memory as worries around AI automation pressuring demand for older IT services linger. On top of that, traders are now watching new bank system regulations that restrict funding available to brokers and other intermediaries—a new hurdle for flows reliant on derivatives.
The Nifty bounced around, swinging from 25,377.10 up to 25,695.65, after kicking off at 25,423.60. It wrapped up the session close to the day’s peak.
Leadership split across sectors, with financials and energy taking charge. Defensive names stayed firm. Media stocks and autos fell behind, leaving headline indices just slightly up.
Technical traders noted resistance close by. Centrum Finverse’s Nilesh Jain, who oversees technical and derivative research as vice president, observed the Nifty settled “marginally below the 100-DMA”—that’s the 100-day moving average, a key trend marker. He highlighted 25,690 as the next immediate resistance zone. The Economic Times
Large caps did the heavy lifting: HDFC Bank jumped 2.4%, Reliance Industries tacked on 1.2%. Buyers moved in after both names had slipped, analysts and market data showed.
Newly listed shares fed into the ongoing buzz over AI. Fractal Analytics slipped roughly 5% in its first session. Vipul Bhowar, senior director at Waterfield Advisors, pointed out that the listing premium, once visible on the unlisted market, had “disappeared” as worries about AI-driven disruption grew. Reuters
Torrent Pharma climbed 4.5% following its December-quarter profit rise. Natco Pharma, meanwhile, surged 7% as it secured approval to roll out a generic semaglutide in India—the diabetes and weight loss drug.
Stocks tied to capital markets lagged behind the rally in the main indices. Shares of BSE dropped as much as 9.9%. Angel One, Groww, and Motilal Oswal also lost ground after the central bank moved to tighten rules around bank financing for brokers and other intermediaries. Jefferies warned the rule change could drive up proprietary trading costs, while JM Financial analysts pointed to a likely shake-up in margin-trading funding.
Regulators are tightening the screws. The RBI’s revised guidelines, as reported by Business Standard, will require banks to fully secure all credit extended to SEBI-regulated capital market intermediaries. Collateral demands for bank guarantees to exchanges and clearing houses are also going up. Banks won’t be allowed to fund brokers’ proprietary trades anymore. The changes kick in April 1. (Proprietary trading involves firms trading their own capital; margin trading uses broker-funded leverage for clients.)
Still, the rebound leaves the bigger issue unresolved: will IT stocks find their footing after last week’s tumble, or end up dragging the benchmarks back down? “Market sentiment remained fragile,” noted Ajit Mishra, senior vice president for research at Religare Broking, even as big banks fueled the bounce. The rupee, meanwhile, closed almost flat near 90.66 per dollar. The Times of India
Tuesday shapes up as a test for the Nifty, with technical analysts eyeing the 100-day moving average—can the index claw back above it? Banks are also in focus, traders say, looking for signs of momentum. There’s lingering interest in how the RBI’s April 1 funding curbs might ripple through brokerages and exchange operators as well.
