NIFTY50 above 25,650, SENSEX rallies 317 pts in noon deals; UPL, HAL, Adani Ports among buzzing stocks

The Indian benchmark indices, SENSEX and NIFTY50, were trading in the positive territory during the afternoon session on Monday, February 23, after opening with notable gains in the morning. It was bolstered by buying in PSU Banks and financial services stocks.

The SENSEX advanced as much as 671.44 points to an intraday high of 83,486.15. Meanwhile, the NIFTY50 touched the session’s peak of 25,771.45.

At 12:39 PM, the S&P BSE SENSEX soared by 316.91 points, or 0.38%, to 83,131.62. NSE’s NIFTY50 stood at 25,655.15, marking an 83.90 point, or 0.33% jump.

On Friday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹934.61 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased equities worth ₹2,637.15 crore on a net basis, according to exchange data.

The NIFTY50 index was supported by gains in Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (2.48%), HDFC Life Insurance Company (2.22%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (2.03%), Tata Consumer Products (1.73%) and SBI Life Insurance Company (1.59%), which were among the top winners.

On the other hand, the top losers included Hindalco Industries (-2.43%), Wipro (-2.24%), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (-2.15%), Infosys (-2.02%) and Kwality Wall's (-1.44%).

Buzzing stocks on February 23: Check list

Shares of companies in export-oriented industries, such as textiles, shrimps, and auto components, among others, are in the spotlight as US President Donald Trump on Saturday said he was raising, effective immediately, worldwide tariff rates on countries from 10% to the "legally tested" 15%.

The US president also slammed Friday's Supreme Court verdict that had quashed the sweeping levies imposed by him last year.

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) stock declined as much as 3.81% to an intraday low of ₹4,011.20 per equity share on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday, February 23.

As per a Press Trust of India (PTI) report, citing authoritative sources, a Tejas light combat aircraft of the Indian Air Force sustained major damage to its airframe after it overshot the runway at a frontline airbase following a suspected brake failure earlier this month.

The fighter jet met with an accident on February 7, following which the IAF grounded the entire fleet of around 30 single-seat Tejas jets to carry out an extensive technical scrutiny, a PTI report said.

It was the third accident involving the Tejas jets. The first one took place in March 2024, when a Tejas jet crashed near Jaisalmer. The second incident took place in November 2025, when a Tejas jet crashed during an aerial display at the Dubai Airshow.

The bank has suspended four suspected officials, and it will pursue strict disciplinary, civil, and criminal action against the employees and other external individuals responsible, in accordance with applicable law, IDFC First Bank said.

IDFC First Bank said that it received a request from a particular Department of the Haryana Government for the closure of its account and the transfer of funds to another bank. In the process, a certain discrepancy was observed in the amount mentioned vis-à-vis the balance in the account.

Following the request from the department, the bank found differences between the balances in the account and the balances as mentioned by the said Haryana Government entities holding accounts with the bank.

In a regulatory filing dated February 21, it stated that its subsidiary, Adani Gangavaram Port Ltd (AGPL), signed a strategic pact with NMDC Ltd, a Government of India enterprise, and Vale S.A. at the India–Brazil Business Forum Summit held in New Delhi.

The MoU was signed during the official visit of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, to India, and Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry of India, “underscoring the deepening India–Brazil strategic partnership.”

The MoU established a strategic framework for the development of an iron ore blending facility and a dedicated Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Gangavaram Port.

Shares of AU Small Finance Bank dropped as much as 7.76% to hit an intraday low of ₹950 on the NSE, after the Haryana government de-empanelled IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank for government business with immediate effect till further orders, according to an official circular.

No government funds will be parked, deposited, invested or transacted through these institutions, it said.

"IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank are hereby de-empanelled for government business in Haryana with immediate effect till further orders," according to a circular issued by the Finance Department.

The agrochemical firm on Friday said it will integrate Indian and international crop protection businesses into a single entity as it seeks to create a focused pure-play platform for the growth of this business globally while simplifying the group structure.

In a regulatory filing, UPL informed that its board approved a composite scheme of arrangement amongst itself, UPL Sustainable Agri Solutions Ltd (UPL SAS), UPL Global Sustainable Agri Solutions Ltd (UPL 2), UPL Crop Protection Holdings Ltd (UPL Cayman), and their respective shareholders.

According to a report by CNBC-TV18, which quoted a research firm, as many as 103.9 million shares, or 29% of the company's outstanding equity, will become available for trading at the end of the lock-in period.

Besides this, Vikram Solar, on February 20, 2026, entered into a strategic domestic cell procurement agreement with Jupiter International Limited to procure high-efficiency TopCon solar cells and high-efficiency mono PERC solar cells (collectively referred to as "products") aggregating to 2 GW of ALMM-compliant crystalline solar cells.