Gift Nifty had signalled the weak start, trading nearly 80 points lower ahead of the bell.
Markets opened lower on Friday, with the Sensex falling 376.73 points (0.46 per cent) to 81,871.88 by 9.45 AM IST from a previous close of 82,248.61, having opened at 82,220.48. The Nifty 50 slipped 140.85 points (0.55 per cent) to 25,355.70, after closing Thursday at 25,496.55 and opening at 25,459.85. Gift Nifty had signalled the weak start, trading nearly 80 points lower ahead of the bell.
The selloff tracked Wall Street, where Nvidia tumbled 5.5 per cent despite strong quarterly results, dragging the Nasdaq down 1.2 per cent. “…the AI chipmaker failed to satisfy elevated investor expectations, dragging semiconductor stocks lower and souring broader market sentiment,” said Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research, HDFC Securities. The Dow Jones closed flat, with Salesforce rising 4 per cent on strong results offering some cushion. In Asia, the Nikkei and KOSPI fell in tandem with the Nasdaq, while Hang Seng and Taiwan traded in the green.
Ironically, Indian IT stocks led gains on the Nifty. Infosys rose 1.30 per cent to ₹1,305.90, HCL Technologies gained 0.94 per cent to ₹1,386.40, and Tech Mahindra added 0.90 per cent to ₹1,374.00. Eternal was the top gainer, up 1.72 per cent to ₹250.75, and Trent rose 0.76 per cent to ₹3,885.30. On the losing side, UltraTech Cement fell 1.57 per cent to ₹12,734.00, Shriram Finance dropped 1.52 per cent to ₹1,087.80, Nestle India shed 1.50 per cent to ₹1,298.20, Max Healthcare fell 1.42 per cent to ₹1,094.15, and Maruti Suzuki declined 1.38 per cent to ₹15,003.00.
Domestic institutional investors provided support, buying equities worth ₹5,031.6 crore on February 26 for the third straight session, while FIIs sold ₹3,465 crore. “…at the index level the market has been on a consolidation mode for three months now,” said Dr VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments, calling it a stock picker’s market where six Nifty stocks have returned over 50 per cent in a year while five have fallen more than 20 per cent. “…from the valuation perspective, financials are fairly priced,” he added.
Investors also await India’s Q3 FY26 GDP data, due after market hours. Analysts place immediate Nifty support at 25,300–25,400 and resistance at 25,600–25,750. “…fresh long positions should ideally be considered only after a clear and sustained breakout above the 25,800 level,” said Aakash Shah, Technical Research Analyst, Choice Equity Broking.
Published on February 27, 2026
