Wednesday, February 18, 2026
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Dalal Street Opens On Muted Note Due To Fed Rate Cut, Sensex Opens At 84,700, Nifty Tests 26,000

The stock markets are set for a firm start on Thursday as the Sensex started trade at 84,769.62, falling more than 200 points, while the Nifty tested 26,000 falling nearly 50 points at 9:15 AM.

During the pre-open session around 9:03 AM, the Sensex traded above 84,700, falling over 200 points and the Nifty tested 26,000, declining 58 points. 

At 8:23 AM, the Gift Nifty index was trading above 26,100, rising over 40 points.

On Wednesday, the stock market closed registering significant gains as the Sensex jumped over 400 points, closing at 85,037.08, while the Nifty rose more than 100 points to end above 26,000. 

Reason Behind The Uptick

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty witnessed gains during early morning trade on Thursday, despite fluctuating Asian stocks, as the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates.

The Jerome Powell-led US Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announced on 29 October 2025 that it had reduced the key benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points, setting it in the range of 3.75 per cent to 4.00 per cent, according to official data.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was trading flat, while US S&P 500 e-mini futures rose 0.1 per cent after Wall Street stocks ended slightly lower, breaking a four-day winning run, Reuters reported.

Additionally, investors are also waiting to see if US and China are going to work out a trade deal.

Trump is scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea later today. US negotiators have indicated a desire to restore a fragile trade war truce, though tensions remain elevated and long-term economic disagreements are expected to persist between the two powers. 

“After a fair bit of action in the first couple days of this week, we’ll probably finish the central banking story with a bit of a whimper in the next 24 hours, with probably not much happening either from the BOJ or the ECB,” said Sally Auld, chief economist at National Australia Bank in Sydney, in a podcast.

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