NIFTY50, SENSEX today: Wall Street cues, FII activity, key things to know before markets open on February 18

The Indian equity benchmarks are set to open higher on Wednesday, February 18, as indicated by GIFT NIFTY futures. NIFTY futures at GIFT City in Ahmedabad advanced 20 points to 25,760 amid subdued cues from Asian markets.

The SENSEX and NIFTY50 indices rose for a second straight session on Tuesday led by gains in index heavyweights like Infosys, Larsen & Toubro, ITC, Bharat Electronics, State Bank of India, Titan and Sun Pharma.

The SENSEX advanced as much as 611 points from the day's lowest level and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 25,764 and a low of 25,570.

Asian markets

Asian markets were trading higher on Wednesday with Japan's Nikkei rising 1.3% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index advancing 0.3%.

Trading volumes are expected to be light, with markets in China, Hong Kong and several regional exchanges remaining closed for the Lunar New Year holiday, as per a report by Bloomberg.

Wall Street update

US stocks ended on a flat note after staging wild swings during the session on Tuesday as cautious sentiment prevailed on Wall Street amid concerns about artificial-intelligence boom.

The S&P 500 index ended 0.1% higher, Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.07% and tech heavy Nasdaq gained 0.14%.

FII/DII activity

Foreign institutional investors bought shares worth ₹995 crore on Tuesday while domestic institutional investors purchased shares worth ₹187 crore, data from the National Stock Exchange showed.

The FIIs have so far this month bought shares worth ₹13,368 crore, according to the data from National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL).

Stocks to watch

In a regulatory filing, post-market hours on February 17, the company said that it received the contract for the construction of the flood protection embankment on the Narmada River in Gujarat’s Bharuch District.

Under the general contract, the Bhopal-based firm is expected to execute the project in 24 months in Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) mode.

Under the contract, G R Infraproject will be responsible for “earthwork, minor bridges, major bridges, important bridges, viaducts, ROB (RCC Box Type), RUB/LHS, station building, tunnels, track work and other miscellaneous works in connection with the Sidhi-Singrauli new rail link project in the state of Madhya Pradesh.”

The project is expected to be completed in 900 days from the date of appointment, the Udaipur-based firm stated.

The company, in a statement, said the framework, powered by its Infosys Topaz suite, will help enterprises unlock AI value at scale and move from experimentation to enterprise-wide AI operating models.

Jefferies is positive on Infosys, highlighting the company’s strong positioning in the AI space.

The global financial services firm noted that Infosys has developed its AI platform, Infosys Topaz Fabric, and is jointly going to market with partners across the AI ecosystem. The company has also adopted a two-pronged talent strategy aimed at capturing emerging AI-driven demand while strengthening its existing service lines simultaneously.

Client adoption of AI solutions is accelerating, with new AI-led services contributing nearly 5.5% of revenues in Q3 FY26. Notably, around 90% of Infosys’s top 200 large clients are currently using its AI services, underscoring growing traction.

Rajasthan Gramin Bank AGM Abhimanyu Charan exchanged documents with Ashok Leyland’s Head of LCV Business, Viplav Shah, in the presence of the bank’s Chairman Mukesh Bhartiya.

Under the partnership, Rajasthan Gramin Bank will offer comprehensive financing solutions to Ashok Leyland customers, the company said in a press release.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two entities will enable Chennai-headquartered Ashok Leyland and Rajasthan Gramin Bank to offer customised financial products tailored to commercial vehicle buyers.

“The signing of this hotel, the first SeleQtions in Bengaluru, will cater to this growth and expand our brandscape in this key lodging market. We are delighted to partner with BABA Developers for this project,” IHCL Executive Vice President of Real Estate and Development Suma Venkatesh said in a statement.

With the addition of this hotel, IHCL will have 20 hotels in Bengaluru, including 11 under development.

The car market leader has already commenced the exports of the all-new mid-sized electric SUV to various markets. Along with parent Suzuki Motor Corporation, the company aims to sell the car in over 100 nations globally.

"This month holds great significance. 45 years ago, this was the month Maruti was incorporated with the prime objective to put India on wheels. We took small baby steps, and slowly those tiny steps began to shape something extraordinary today. Today, in the same month of February, we are getting ready to embark on a journey of transformation that will redefine the auto industry," Maruti Suzuki India Senior Executive Officer (Marketing and Sales) Partho Banerjee told reporters at a virtual press conference.

The collaboration, which also covers Eternal's Feeding India initiative and AI-native venture Nugget, will focus on AI deployments across Eternal's apps and underscores the growing role of AI in India's digital commerce sector.

Eternal will also work with OpenAI's Enterprise API platform to explore new ways customers and partners interact with its platforms, deploy advanced AI tools within partner applications, and integrate advanced coding models into its in-house AI orchestration platform, it said in a statement.

Eternal is strengthening AI infrastructure across its consumer and enterprise platforms, building AI as foundational infrastructure across its commerce ecosystem.

In its press release dated February 18, Netweb announced a new class of AI computing for India with the launch of Tyrone Camarero Spark, which is one of the world’s smallest AI supercomputers, delivering NVIDIA’s AI stack in a compact desktop form factor.

It combines NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs, NVIDIA Grace CPUs, NVIDIA Networking, NVIDIA CUDA-X libraries, and NVIDIA AI software stack, accelerating agentic and physical AI development to address the requirements of millions of AI developers in India.

Brent crude futures declined $1.23, or 1.8%, to settle at $67.42 per barrel. Meanwhile, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 56 cents, or 0.9%, to close at $62.33 a barrel.

Additionally, the Hon’ble Court observed that the Commission exceeded its jurisdiction under the Consumer Protection Act in issuing the warrant. The company requests that due note be taken of the aforesaid factual legal position.

It has elevated the incumbent, Mohit Malhotra, as Global Chief Executive Officer of the Company, according to a regulatory filing by the Burman family-promoted entity.

Bhalla’s appointment will be effective from April 15, or such other date as may be agreed between them, and he will report to Malhotra, Dabur added.

Malhotra’s redesignation as Whole Time Director & Global Chief Executive Officer is with immediate effect from Tuesday.

Trade setup

On the technical side, the NIFTY50 daily charts show renewed positive momentum in the index as it closed above crucial 20 EMA and 50 EMA levels of 25,630 and 24,670. Additionally, a strong closing above 25,700 further boosted the hopes for bulls to regain the momentum in the index.

On the options data front, the initial buildup for the coming weekly expiry indicates 26,000 as the strong resistance level due to the highest open interest on the call side. On the flipside, the 25,500 puts hold the highest open interest, indicating strong support on the downside.