Stock Market Today Highlight: Sensex, Nifty end flat amid caution ahead of US-Iran talk; auto, pharma, PSU banks gain

Nagaraj Shetti, Senior Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities:

Nifty continued with consolidation movement on Thursday and closed the day higher by 14 points amidst volatility. After opening on a positive note, the market failed to sustain the upside momentum, as it slipped into weakness from the highs in the early-mid part of the session. There was a minor recovery from the lows towards the end and Nifty closed the day off the lows.

A small negative candle was formed on the daily chart with lower shadow. Technically, this market action signals a lack of strength in the market to sustain the highs. Frequent lower highs have been formed recently and the repeated testing of the crucial lower supports was seen around 25400 levels. This is not a good sign.

The underlying trend of Nifty remains choppy. Crucial lower supports to be watched around 25400-25350 levels on any weakness from here. Immediate resistance is placed at 25600.

Stock Market Today LIVE: Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments said, "The domestic market surrendered its early gains amid mixed global cues and increased caution ahead of the US–Iran nuclear talks, as well as key data releases including US initial jobless claims and India’s GDP print, which triggered profit booking.

As the session progressed, investors rotated towards non-cyclical pockets such as pharma and healthcare, while defence stocks gained on optimism over potential India–Israel tech-transfer initiatives. Sentiment recovered in late trade following reports of meetings between Indian and US commerce officials, which rekindled hopes of progress in bilateral trade negotiations and made the market close flat."

Stock Market Today LIVE: Sensex ended 27.46 points or 0.03% lower at 82,248.61 wile the broader Nifty 50 added 14.05 points or 0.06% to settle at 25,496.55.

Stock Market Today LIVE: Shares of solar energy companies moved higher in Thursday’s trade after brokerages played down concerns stemming from the US imposing a preliminary 126% duty on solar imports, citing several mitigating factors.

Waaree Energies shares rose over 2% to trade at around ₹2,764.5 apiece, while Premier Energies gained about 2% to ₹741.60 during the morning session.

Stock Market Today LIVE: Defence stocks extended their rally for the second consecutive session, rising nearly 4% on Thursday, February 26. The Nifty Defence India index was trading 1.07% higher, amid strong investor interest ahead of the India-Israel defence deal.

Astra Microwave Products' share price led the gains, rising more than 4.25% to ₹8,181.80, followed by Data Patterns, which advanced 3.70%. Unimech Aerospace and Manufacturing Limited and Solar Industries shares were also trading about 3% higher on Thursday. Read More

Stock Market Today LIVE: Shares of Tejas Networks jumped 10% on Thursday, snapping a four-session losing streak. The stock surged to an intraday high of ₹349 on the BSE after the company announced a key agreement with NEC Corporation to manufacture and supply 5G massive MIMO radios.

Stock Market Today LIVE: Vodafone Idea, IDFC First Bank, Tata Silver Exchange Traded Fund, YES Bank, Eternal, Filatex Fashions, Easy Trip Planners, Ola Electric Mobility, Tata Gold Exchange Traded Fund, Nippon India Silver ETF, and Tejas Networks were the most traded stocks, or most active stocks in terms of volume, on the NSE around 12:30 pm.

Vishal Mega Mart, Suzlon Energy, Bank of Maharashtra, Jai Balaji Industries, GTL Infrastructure, Renaissance Global, Jyoti Structures, DEE Development Engineers, and Canara Bank were also among the most traded stocks on the NSE. Read more

Stock Market Today LIVE: The recovery in global equities after the so-called “AI scare trade” that unsettled Wall Street earlier this week began to lose steam, as investors reacted cautiously to **Nvidia Corp.**’s earnings despite the chipmaker delivering results that exceeded expectations.

Futures linked to the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index slipped 0.2%, while contracts pointed to modest losses for European equities at the open. Nvidia shares gave up most of their post-results gains and were marginally higher by 0.2% in extended trading. Asian markets, however, climbed to record levels overall, even as chip stocks across the region came under pressure.

As of 6:58 a.m. London time, S&P 500 futures were down 0.1%, while Nasdaq 100 futures declined 0.2%. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 0.9%, reflecting broader strength in the region. In contrast, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.8%, while the Shanghai Composite Index was largely unchanged.

Stock Market Today LIVE: Oil prices inched up on Thursday as investors gauged whether U.S.-Iran talks could avert a military conflict that risks supply disruptions, though gains were capped by a build in U.S. crude inventories.

Brent futures were trading at $71.06 per barrel, up 21 cents, or 0.3%, at 0720 GMT. WTI futures rose 16 cents, or 0.2%, to $65.58 per barrel.

While Brent and WTI settled largely unchanged on Wednesday, Brent on Monday rose to its highest since July 31 as Washington positioned military forces in the Middle East to press Iran to negotiate an end to its nuclear and ballistic missile programme.

Stock Market Today LIVE: Silver prices on Thursday fell ₹3,264 to ₹2,65,052 per kg as demand weakened.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange, silver contracts for March delivery declined ₹3,264, or 1.22%, to ₹2,65,052 per kg.

Globally, silver was trading 0.14% lower at $89.35 per ounce in New York.

Stock Market Today LIVE: Gold prices on Thursday dropped ₹539 to ₹1,60,606 per 10 grams in futures trade amid a fall in spot demand.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange, gold contracts for April delivery traded lower by ₹539, or 0.33 per cent, at ₹1,60,606 per 10 grams in a business turnover of 647 lots.

Analysts attributed the fall in gold prices to weak global cues.

Globally, gold futures increased by 0.59 per cent to USD 5,196.38 per ounce in New York.

Stock Market Today LIVE: Angel One appeared to have crashed nearly 90% in a single trading session on Thursday, but the sharp fall was purely optical and linked to the company’s 1:10 stock split that came into effect on the record date.

The stock opened at ₹251.35 per share on Thursday, compared with its previous close of ₹2,489.90. Post adjustment, the share price moved lower during the session and slipped about 3% to an intraday low of ₹241.50 on the BSE.

Stock Market Today LIVE: Indian equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty 50, pared gains to turn red on Thursday, February 27 draged by banking and FMCG stocks. HDFC Bank, SBI and Axis Bank were the top draggers on BSE Sensex.

Meanwhile, IT stocks also pared early morning rally but remainedd in the green. IT stocks were the top gainers after AI chipmaker Nvidia posted stromng earnings for the December quarter. Nifty IT index rose 2% but later pared gains to trade around 0.3% higher. Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Bank, Nifty Fin Services were all down around half a percent each.

Sensex cracked 450 points to day's low of 81,983.96 from its intra-day high of 82,579.16 while Nifty was around 0.2% lower, below 25,450 levels.

Stock Market Today LIVE: VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments suggests that for investors, the best option now is to slowly accumulate fundamentally strong, quality stocks like financials which are available at fair valuations. High quality growth stocks in sectors like automobiles and capital goods also will remain resilient. Buy and wait with patience.

It appears that the IT stocks are stabilising after the 20% crash in the last one month, despite the uncertainty surrounding the sector, he added.

Stock Market Today LIVE: Shares of Sanofi Consumer Healthcare rallied as much as 14.5% to a day’s high of ₹4,586 on the BSE on Thursday after the company reported a 50% year-on-year (YoY) rise in net profit to ₹66.5 crore for the fourth quarter.

Revenue from operations for the quarter came in at ₹251 crore, marking a robust 47% increase compared with the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year.

The company also declared a dividend of ₹75 per share for the year ended December 31, 2025.

Stock Market Today LIVE: SBI Life Insurance Company share price edged higher on Thursday, February 26, after the company’s board announced an interim dividend for shareholders on February 25. The stock rose around 1.5% in early trade following the announcement.

The life insurer declared an interim dividend of ₹2.7 per share for FY26. The dividend has been announced on a face value of ₹10 per share. To identify eligible shareholders, SBI Life has fixed March 6 as the record date. The dividend payout is scheduled to be completed on or before Friday, March 27, 2026.

Stock Market Today LIVE: PSU stock Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) share price advanced around a percent on Thursday, February 26 as retail portion of its offer for sale (OFS) is scheduled to open today. This means individual investors will be able to place their bids on the stock today.

The stock advanced as much 0.7% to its day's high of ₹105.30.

The IRFC OFS by the Indian govt did not receive full participation from institutional investors on Wednesday, February 25. Meanwhile, on the equity front, the government chose not to exercise the oversubscription option in the ongoing OFS.

Stock Market Today LIVE: The 200 day SMA has persistently held firm in the last few days, even though the pull back thereafter never found enough momentum to set off directional moves. A repeat of the same is in play now. We will go in today, continuing to eye yesterday’s upside turnaround level of 25670 to confirm strength, in order to aim for 25900. Downside marker may be placed at 25530, predicted Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Investments.

Stock Market Today LIVE: VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments said, “A significant takeaway from the current market trend is that despite large institutional buying - FII and DII combined - the market is not surging. Yesterday the combined institutional buying in the cash market was a massive ₹8100 crores. Yet the market couldn’t sustain the early gains since the “sell on rally” trend emerged, wiping out the early gains. As the market rallies and valuations get stretched, bears are getting stronger and shorts are increasing, pulling the market down. This trend may continue in the near-term, capping the upside to the market.”

Stock Market Today LIVE: At 9:33 am, Sensex was up 35.37 points or 0.04% at 82,311.44 while Nifty 50 added 56 points or 0.22% at 25,539.40

Stock Market Today LIVE: Sensex opens 200 points higher, Nifty hovers around 25,500.

At 9:20 am, Sensex was up 189.96 points or 0.23% at 82,466.03 while the broader Nifty added 66.05 points or 0.26% to 25,548.55.

Stock Market Today LIVE: Nifty 50 index formed a small red candle on the daily chart with a long upper shadow.

“This signals a formation of inside day bar type candle pattern, but this market action reflects a lack of strength in the bounce back. The bearish descending triangle pattern is unfolding and the series of lower highs after bouncing back from the lower support signals sell on rise opportunity in the market ahead,” said Nagaraj Shetti, Senior Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities.

Stock Market Today LIVE: Sensex witnessed profit booking at higher levels after an intraday rally, which is largely negative.

“We are of the view that the 20-day SMA (Simple Moving Average) or 82,500 will act as an immediate resistance zone for day traders. As long as Sensex trades below this level, the weak sentiment is likely to continue on the downside, with a potential slip toward the 200-day SMA or 82,000 - 81,800,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Head Equity Research, Kotak Securities.

Stock Market Today LIVE: Indian IT stocks including Infosys, TCS, HCL Tech, and others will be in focus today, February 26 after AI chipmaker Nvidia reported a record revenue of $68.1 billion in the fourth quarter, up 73% from a year ago and well above the $65.7 billion analysts had forecast. Net income for the quarter more than doubled YoY to $42.96 billion. The company forecast the current quarter’s revenue at $78 billion, plus or minus 2%, comfortably above the roughly $72 billion Wall Street expectations.

Stock Market Today LIVE: Iran and the US hold the latest round of talks in Geneva today, February 26 aimed at resolving their longstanding nuclear dispute and averting new US strikes on Iran following a large-scale military buildup. US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will attend the indirect talks with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, a US official told Reuters.

Stock Market Today LIVE: US stock market ended higher on Wednesday and touched two-week highs, as technology stocks extended their rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 307.65 points, or 0.63%, to 49,482.15, while the S&P 500 gained 56.06 points, or 0.81%, to 6,946.13. The Nasdaq Composite closed 288.40 points, or 1.26%, higher at 23,152.08.

Nvidia stock price gained 1.44%, as the company’s fourth-quarter revenue beat analyst estimates. AMD shares fell 1.39%, Microsoft share price rallied 2.98%, Apple stock price rose 0.77%, Amazon shares gained 1% and Meta stock price advanced 2.25%. Axon Enterprise shares jumped 17.6%.

Stock Market Today LIVE: Asian markets traded higher on Thursday, following overnight rally on Wall Street, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 crossing above 59,000 for the first time. The Nikkei 225 rose 1.1%, to an all-time high of 59,199.31, and Topix rallied 1.45%, also scaling a new peak. South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.65%, while the Kosdaq added 0.57%. Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures indicated a higher opening.

Stock Market Today LIVE: The trends on Gift Nifty also indicate a positive start for the Indian benchmark index. The Gift Nifty was trading around 25,667 level, a premium of nearly 39 points from the Nifty futures’ previous close.

Stock Market Today LIVE: The Indian stock market benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty 50, are likely to open higher on Thursday, tracking upbeat global market cues.