Trade Financial News

Pharmaceutical stocks plunged on Wednesday, with the Nifty Pharma Index dropping over 2%. Leading the selloff, Aurobindo Pharma slumped as much as 9.5% to Rs 1,053.45, making it the biggest loser in the pharma pack, after U.S. President Donald Trump signalled plans to impose a 25% tariff on imported drugs, triggering concerns over higher costs and potential disruptions for Indian drugmakers, which are among the largest suppliers to the U.S. market. Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories slid 5.8% to Rs 1,128.90, while Zydus Lifesciences fell 4.8%. Sun Pharma, India’s largest drugmaker, dropped 3.2% to Rs 1,647.35, emerging as the top loser on the BSE Sensex and among the top five decliners on the Nifty 50 benchmark. Other major pharmaceutical firms also took a hit, with Lupin down 4%, Glenmark Pharma sliding 2.7%, and Cipla losing 2.2%.

Persistent Systems Ltd.(up 1.73 per cent), Wipro Ltd.(up 1.11 per cent), Coforge Ltd.(up 1.09 per cent) and MphasiS Ltd.(up 0.55 per cent) were among the top gainers.

Granules India Ltd.(up 1.69 per cent), Divi's Laboratories Ltd.(up 1.64 per cent), Laurus Labs Ltd.(up 1.59 per cent), Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd.(up 0.89 per cent) and Alkem Laboratories Ltd.(up 0.41 per cent) were among the top gainers.

KIOCL Ltd.(up 6.22%), Pokarna Ltd.(up 5.13%), Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation Ltd.(up 4.86%), Aro Granite Industries Ltd.(up 3.45%), Ashapura Minechem Ltd.(up 3.45%), 20 Microns Ltd.(up 3.35%), The Orissa Minerals Development Company Ltd.(up 2.31%), NMDC Ltd.(up 2.29%), Oriental Trimex Ltd.(up 2.03%) and MOIL Ltd.(up 1.71%) were among the top gainers.

Adani Group stocks tumbled in early trading on Wednesday, with shares of Adani Enterprises dropping as much as 4.3%, following reports that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sought assistance from Indian authorities in its probe into the conglomerate’s founder, Gautam Adani, and his nephew, Sagar Adani, over alleged securities fraud and a Rs 2,300 crore bribery scheme. The SEC informed a US district court on Tuesday that its efforts to serve legal complaints to the Adanis were ongoing and that it was working with India’s Ministry of Law and Justice for assistance, Reuters reported. This development triggered fresh concerns among investors, leading to a broad sell-off across Adani Group stocks at the market open.

Duroply lndustries(up 20.00%), Gujarat Themis (up 19.81%), Somany Home(up 18.66%), HB Leasing Fin(up 16.69%), Aplab(up 16.46%) and Tata Investment(up 15.62%) were among the stocks that surged over 15%.

bird flu vaccination campaign launched in France in 2023 has enabled the country's poultry production to recover to levels not seen since outbreaks of the virus wiped out tens of millions of birds, producers said on Tuesday.

A similar pattern is playing out with the Nifty 50 index, which saw its share in total market capitalization decline from 58% five years ago to an all-time low of 42%. That figure is now inching back up to 44%, according to data from DSP Mutual Fund.

Nifty has fallen more than 12% from its record high of 26,277. The index closed at 22,945 on 18th February 2025.

The NSE Nifty index was trading 31.05 points up at 22976.35, while BSE Sensex was up 116.25 points at 76083.64 at the time of writing this report.

Indowind Energy Ltd.(up 8.69%), GMR Power and Urban Infra Ltd.(up 8.28%), Ravindra Energy Ltd.(up 7.93%), Suzlon Energy Ltd.(up 6.52%), Orient Green Power Company Ltd.(up 5.47%), Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd.(up 5.06%), KPI Green Energy Ltd.(up 5.00%), ACME Solar Holdings Ltd.(up 5.00%), Transformers & Rectifiers(India)Ltd.(up 5.00%) and Inox Wind Ltd.(up 4.65%) were among the top gainers.

Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) shares will be in focus on Wednesday, February 19, after the company secured a Rs 554.47 crore contract from Rail Infrastructure Development Company (Karnataka) Ltd (K-RIDE) for the Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project (BSRP). RVNL received a Letter of Acceptance from K-RIDE for Package C4A, involving the construction of nine stations under Corridor-4A of the BSRP. The Rs 554.47-crore contract involves building one elevated and eight at-grade stations at Heelalige, Singena Agrahara, Huskur, Ambedkar Nagar, Carmelaram, Bellandur, Marathahalli, Doddanakundi, and Kaggadasapura.

Infosys shares will be in focus on Wednesday, February 19, after the company announced the establishment of a Global Capability Centre (GCC) for Lufthansa to support the German airline's digital transformation. As part of a $300 million IT contract, the GCC will enhance Lufthansa Group’s software and product development while strengthening support for Lufthansa Systems’ (LSY) products.

Vedanta shares will be in focus on Wednesday after the company received 83% creditor approval for its proposed demerger, clearing a crucial hurdle for its restructuring plan. The proposal required support from at least 75% of creditors by debt value to move forward. With this approval, Vedanta is set to proceed with splitting its businesses into independent entities, allowing each vertical to operate separately.

Deven Choksey, MD, DRChoksey FinServ Pvt. Ltd, says Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) previously short sold their holdings in the F&O market and are now making cash market deliveries while withdrawing funds. This situation is expected to resolve soon. There may be some capitulation, especially in the high valuations of small and mid-cap stocks, but large-cap stocks, particularly in the Nifty 50, are showing more stable valuations. The question on everyone's mind is how much more pain to go before we actually see at least a sustained recovery, if not that, at least the selling should abate. Deven Choksey: I believe that we are at the tail end of selling in the markets. Maybe the larger part of the pain is over. The data of FPI selling from October onwards till date, shows that except for a couple of months in between, in this month we are likely to see a little lower selling compared to what in previous months we had.

Ashi Anand, Founder & CEO, IME Capital, says he would understand if there is further downside to the market. However, due to the strong long-term outlook for India, major declines are not expected. The main worry is with smallcap stocks. In larger-cap indices, a drop of 5-10% seems manageable. But with smallcaps, if retail investors start to panic, liquidity can vanish quickly, leading to significant losses. Therefore, he recommends that investors should stay cautious. Anand also says that for people with a slightly longer-term horizon, some attractive buying opportunities exist in Digital and some could emerge in capital markets and real estate and capital goods spaces. All these companies have run up very considerably. These are also stocks that have led the fall, and have all fallen more than the overall markets. How much more of a selling are we likely to see or do you think that the end is near now? Ashi Anand: That is really the question on everyone's mind. We do not necessarily think we are at the absolute bottom. There could potentially be further downsides. Just to understand that in the overall context, markets have doubled from before pre-COVID levels taking the COVID fall. But if you look at the largecap indices, they have doubled from pre-COVID. You are down only 10%. Smallcaps were up 300%, and are down only about 20%.

₹2,598 crore from institutional investors. Hexaware Technologies IPO price band has been set at ₹674-708 per share for its initial public offering (IPO).

The allotment of shares which was finalised on Monday is done through a lottery system.

Foreign holdings of U.S. Treasuries fell in December as the two largest foreign holders of the government debt, Japan and China, both cut their portfolios, data from the Treasury Department showed on Tuesday. Holdings of U.S. Treasuries fell to $8.513 trillion in December from $8.633 trillion in November. Holdings had reached $8.679 trillion in September.

NSE SME platform on Wednesday, February 19. Ahead of their listing, the shares of the company are trading with a grey market premium (GMP) of Rs 4-5 or 5% in the unlisted market.