Market Wrap, February 18: SENSEX, NIFTY50 end choppy session marginally lower; 787 stocks hit 52-week low

The equity benchmark indices on Tuesday, February 18, ended flat in a choppy trade amid weak earnings and uninterrupted foreign fund outflows. Investors also remained cautious as US President Donald Trump announced to levy reciprocal tariffs on all the nations on Monday overnight.

At close, the S&P BSE SENSEX stood at 75,987.39, down 29.47 points, or 0.04%, while the NSE's NIFTY50 index ended at 22,945.30, losing 14.20 points, or 0.06%.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹3,937.83 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

Investors are also awaiting release of the US FOMC meeting minutes due on Wednesday.

Globally, among the Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong settled in the positive territory while Shanghai ended lower.

European markets were quoting mostly lower.

The 24K gold advanced ₹10 to ₹86,630 per 10 grams in Mumbai and other cities as the US dollar index traded at 106.6 levels against leading currencies. Uncertainty around the US trade policy may have led to higher demand for the safe haven asset like gold.

US markets were closed on Monday in observance of 'President's Day'.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.73% to $75.77 a barrel.

As many as 4,064 stocks traded on the BSE on Tuesday. Out of this, 2,918 declined and only 1,032 stocks advanced while 114 scrips remained unchanged.

A total of 51 stocks hit their 52-week highs while 787 stocks touched their one-year lows. Besides, 15 stocks hit their upper circuit limits and only 4 touched their lower circuit bands on Tuesday.

The broader market also ended negative with the BSE MidCap index ending at 40,045.65, falling 74.17 points, or 0.19%, while the BSE SmallCap index settled at 45,223.80 levels, declining 772.17 points, or 1.71%.

BSE Industrials (-1.51%) was the leading sectoral loser, followed Consumer Durables (-1.19%), Telecommunications (-1.06%), FMCG (-0.80%) and Auto (-0.65%) while BSE Utilities (1.03%), Focused IT (0.86%), Oil and Gas (0.70%), Power (0.59%) and Information Technology (0.55%) were the biggest contributors.

As many as 18 stocks on the NIFTY50 index traded positive, while the remaining 32 closed in red. The top five gainers on the index were NTPC, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, ONGC and Apollo Hospitals, rising as much as 3.19%.

On the flip side, the top five losers were IndusInd Bank, Trent, Bharat Electronics, UltraTech Cement and Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), declining as much as 2.49% on the 50-share index.