Market wrap for Feb 26: NIFTY50 and SENSEX end flat; Healthcare and Pharma indices among top sectoral gainers

Indian equity benchmarks ended flat on Thursday ahead of the monthly expiry of Sensex F&O contracts. Markets made a positive start, tracking positive global cues, and amid buying interest seen in Healthcare, Oil & Gas, and Auto stocks.

However, the benchmarks erased early gains and traded near the neutral lines in the second half of the session, as investors turned cautious amid uncertainty over US tariff policies and ongoing US-Iran negotiations.

The NIFTY50 closed in green with 14 points gain, after oscillating between gains and losses throughout the intraday, and the SENSEX closed in red, down 27 points at 82,248.

European equity markets traded in green after NVIDIA’s earnings eased concerns around massive AI spending and the potential disruption driven by artificial intelligence. Asian markets ended mixed as the Bank of Korea maintained its key interest rate and signalled a neutral policy stance in its new six-month dot plot framework.

The SENSEX ended at 82248, down by 27.46 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 81970 and 82579. 14 stocks were advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The NIFTY50 ended at 25496, up by 14.05 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 25400 and 25572. 26 stocks were advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors Passenger up by 2.93%, Eicher Motors up by 2.70%, Bharat Electronics up by 2.22%, Shriram Finance up by 1.94% and Max Healthcare Inst up by 1.88%. On the flip side, Trent down by 1.68%, Eternal down by 1.48%, Coal India down by 1.32%, Tata Consumer Products down by 1.31% and Power Grid Corp down by 1.30% were the top losers.

On the stock-specific level, the shares of forged and machine component manufacturer, Balu Forge, jumped 10% after the company entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a period of five years for the supply of large calibre ammunition.

Shares of Sanofi Consumer Healthcare jumped nearly 16% after the company announced 50% YoY jump in the net profit at ₹66.5 crore. The company also announced a dividend of ₹75 apiece at the face value of ₹10 per share.

Shares of Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) closed in green after the company won multiple orders worth ₹1,978 crore from National Mining Development Corporation (NMDC)