SENSEX plunges 759 pts, NIFTY50 below 25,600 in noon deals; Netweb, NCC, MCX among buzzing stocks

The Indian benchmark indices plunged into the red during the afternoon session on Thursday, February 19, weighed down by selling heavyweights such as Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, and more. The BSE SENSEX tanked on account of heightened volatility due to the weekly expiry of SENSEX futures and option contracts.

Investor sentiments also frayed due to heightened geopolitical tensions. According to media reports, the United States issued new threats against Iran, despite the conclusion of Iran-US nuclear talks in Geneva on Tuesday, with Iran saying that it reached an understanding with the US on the main “guiding principles” to resolve their disputes. Furthermore, the US-brokered talks between Ukraine and Russia concluded on Wednesday without a breakthrough.

Brent crude futures surged as much as 0.45% to an intraday high of $70.67 per barrel, following the escalating tensions.

The SENSEX fell as much as 869.96 points to an intraday low of 82,864.29. Meanwhile, the NIFTY50 touched the session’s low of 25,567.75.

At 1:04 PM, the S&P BSE SENSEX tanked by 759.25 points, or 0.91%, to 82,975, while NSE’s NIFTY50 was trading at 25,594.30, marking a 225.05 points, or 0.87% decline.

On Wednesday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased shares worth ₹1,154.34 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹440.34 crore on a net basis, according to exchange data.

Furthermore, India VIX, the volatility gauge, spiked as much as 9.82% during Thursday’s noon session.

Shares of Kwality Wall’s, which fell 3.20%, contributed to the decline of the NIFTY50 index. It was followed by selling in Trent (-2.97%), Mahindra & Mahindra (-2.54%), UltraTech Cement (-1.95%) and Adani Enterprises (-1.90%), which were among the top losers.

Conversely, the top gainers included Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (2.57%), Hindalco Industries (1.45%), Infosys (0.75%), Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (0.67%) and TCS (0.14%).

Buzzing stocks on February 19: Check list

Shares of Netweb Technologies rallied as much as 9.65% to an intraday high of ₹3,700 apiece on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday, February 19, after the company on Wednesday informed exchanges that it has launched a ‘Make in India’ AI supercomputing system powered by NVIDIA.

In its press release, Netweb said the company has "powered a new era of computing in India by introducing one of the world’s most powerful AI infrastructure solutions – a ‘Make in India’ AI supercomputer, the Tyrone Camarero GB200 system – and the petascale personal compute system, the Tyrone Camarero Spark."

"Netweb today announces 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," the press release added.

The stock of Cochin Shipyard rose as much as 2.17% to the session’s peak of ₹1,562.30 per equity share on the NSE, after the company announced securing a mega contract for building a ship vessel for a European client.

The company bagged a mega order from a prominent European client for the design and construction of six feeder container vessels, each with a capacity of about 1,700 TEU and powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG). The mega order is worth over ₹2,000 crore.

Shares of construction company NCC dropped as much as 9.86% to hit a 52-week low of ₹135 on the NSE before staging a recovery in intraday deals.

NCC shares came under selling pressure after the company informed exchanges that it, along with its subsidiary O B Infrastructure Limited (OBIL), received an order of debarment from the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

As per the order, the two were debarred from participating in any tender or bids issued by NHAI for a period of two years with effect from February 17, 2026, the Hyderabad-based firm said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

The company added that it is reviewing the order and will take appropriate steps as per applicable law.

Bharat Forge’s stock declined nearly 1%, despite inking a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with VVDN Technologies to explore a strategic collaboration across key technology-driven sectors, including automotive and defence.

Under the agreement, the parties intend to jointly pursue opportunities in next-generation technologies across the automotive, defence, AI, and data centre domains, the company said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

The strategic partnership was established to drive innovation and jointly develop the next generation of products for automotive, defence, and AI server platforms, leveraging their complementary strengths in engineering, manufacturing, and technology innovation, it added.

MCX shares advanced as much as 4.04% to the session’s peak of ₹2,436 per unit in early trade on Thursday, a day after it announced the withdrawal of the additional margin of 3% levied in gold futures (all contracts of all variables) and 7% on all futures contracts.

The stock of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) advanced as much as 2% to an intraday high of ₹2,748.70 apiece, as OpenAI partnered with the Tata Group and TCS to advance AI transformation in India and globally.

“This partnership spans multiple high-impact areas, including powering AI-led innovation across Tata Group companies, joint efforts to drive AI transformation across industries globally, and setting up AI infrastructure,” TCS said in a regulatory filing.