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Indian benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty are likely to open on a weak note on Friday, tracking subdued global cues.
Sensex
Indian benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty are likely to open on a weak note on Friday, tracking subdued global cues.
At around 6:50 AM, the GIFT Nifty was quoting at 25,719.5, down 131.5 points or 0.51 per cent, indicating a negative start for domestic equities.
Meanwhile, India’s consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation for January 2026 stood at 2.75 per cent, driven by higher food and precious metal prices. The data marks the first release under the revised CPI series, with the base year shifted to 2024 from 2012. Rural inflation came in at 2.73 per cent, while urban inflation was marginally higher at 2.77 per cent, according to figures released by the Ministry of Statistics on Thursday.
VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist, Geojit Investment, said: “Markets have fallen into a turbulent phase which will cause some panic among investors even while offering opportunities. The sell off in AI stocks in US markets was expected but the timing and extent of the sell-off was not known. The 2.04 per cent decline in Nasdaq is not a crash. But if the downtrend continues it might pull the US market down. For the Indian market, this correction in AI stocks is a positive, because last year’s global rally was primarily an AI trade in which India, an AI laggard, couldn’t participate. So the unwinding of the AI trade, If it persists, is a positive from the Indian perspective. However, what is rattling the Indian market now is the massive sell-off in IT stocks, which is the second largest profit pool of India Inc. The real impact of the ‘Anthropic shock’ on the IT sector is yet to be ascertained. Panic selling in IT stocks at this stage may not be a good idea. Investors may wait and watch for the dust to settle.”
“The market turbulence can be used to accumulate high quality growth stocks, particularly those that have come out with good Q3 results. Auto stocks are likely to remain resilient, given the excellent results and growth prospects. Therefore, any downtrend in this segment due to market turbulence can offer buying opportunities,” he said.
Global Cues
Asian markets traded lower on Friday after renewed concerns over AI-led disruption in the US weighed on Wall Street, where the S&P 500 logged its third consecutive session of losses. Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 1.69 per cent, South Korea’s KOSPI slipped 0.5 per cent, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.3 per cent in early trade.
US equity indices ended sharply lower on Thursday as investors rotated out of technology stocks while digesting a heavy flow of economic data and corporate earnings. The S&P 500 dropped 1.57 per cent, the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.03 per cent, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1.34 per cent.
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February 13, 2026, 09:03 IST
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