Welcome to our today’s edition of The Weekly Wrap for February 19 and February 20,2026 wherein we take a look at key headlines from the Financial Markets that captured attention, including the US Supreme Court ruling on the reciprocal tariffs, followed by President Donald Trump’s raging global tariff imposition, the Indian crude oil imports, among others..
Alongside we take a look at the performance of the Indian Equity Market Indices over these two days- both broader and sector-wise, as well as the institutional trading activity. Plus, we go through the daily Market Stats and Turnover data, as per the exchange, with an eye on the Wall Street as well.
So let us get rolling..
THE WEEKLY WRAP: MARKETS
The Indian Equity Market Indices declined on Thursday, ending the session in deep red amid tensions over escalating US-Iran tensions which pushed crude prices higher and dampened market sentiment. Sensex lost more than 1200 points while Nifty broke multiple support levels in another volatile session that saw VIX spiking more than 10%. About 1,238 shares advanced, 2,802 shares declined, and 147 shares were unchanged.
While on Friday, the markets recovered from the day’s lows (Sensex at 82206 while Nifty at 25379.75) to end higher, as broad-based value buying emerged barring the IT Sector. About 1,842 shares advanced, 2,167 shares declined, and 153 shares were unchanged. Twelve of the 16 major sectors logged weekly gains with broader small-caps falling 0.2% while mid-caps added 0.1%. The Volatility Index (VIX) spiked more than 6.6% on Friday, just shy of the eight-month Budget day high reached on February 1 earlier this month. On the currency front, the Indian Rupee was trading below 90.95, against the US Dollar, down around 28 paise.
Finance Flashcards Newsroom
TOP HEADLINES
US Supreme Court strikes down reciprocal tariffs, Trump retaliates back in rage with new global tariffs
Hours after the US Supreme court struck down his sweeping “reciprocal” import duties in a major rebuke of his trade agenda, the US President Donald Trump announced on Friday evening that he has signed an executive order, imposing a new 10% global tariffs. These tariffs imposed under “Section 122” of the Trade Act of 1974, were later hiked to 15%, and stand effective immediately with a warning that additional levies would follow. As per CNBC, they come on top of the levies that remain intact following the high court’s decision, which invalidated the tariffs Trump had imposed using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA.
At a White House press briefing, Trump rallied against the deeply disappointing 6-3 ruling, while going on to say “I’m ashamed of certain members of the court, absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country.” Additionally, The President was scathing in his criticism of the Supreme Court decision against him, calling the ruling “ridiculous, poorly written, and extraordinarily anti-American” in a social media post.
India’s oil imports from Russia fall to lowest since May 2022 as Saudi regains share
India’s import of Russian oil is expected to fall to 800000 barrels per day in March, the lowest since May 2022 as Saudi Arabia regained its share in India’s oil import basket, as per preliminary data from data and analytics firm Kpler (reported by Moneycontrol). Over the past few months, India has already cut down its purchases of Russian oil significantly to the range of 1.1-1.3 million barrels per day during Dec-Jan from 1.8 million bpd in November 2025, as per Kpler data.
The US withdrew the additional 25% tariffs imposed on India for buying crude oil from Russia claiming that India has committed to stop buying Russian oil and increase its energy imports from the US and Venezuela. The Indian government, however, has not formally committed to such a shift.
Saudi has been traditionally India’s top oil supplier before the Ukraine-Russia conflict, after which India switched to Russian imports due to heavy discounts on its Urals from 2022. Meanwhile, China has already ramped up its purchases of Russian oil as New Delhi aims at slashing its exposure to the discounted Urals, an analysis of Kpler data showed.
U.S. GDP for Q4 falls badly short of estimates, at 1.4% while inflation firmed at 3%
US Economic Growth slowed down more than the estimates near the end of 2025, as revealed the data released on Friday. This comes after the government shutdown impacted spending and investment, while a key inflation metric showed high prices are still a factor for the economy, as per a report in CNBC. According to Commerce Department, the Gross Domestic Product rose at an annualized rate of just 1.4% which is well below the Dow Jones estimate for a 2.5% gain. Consumer spending increased at a slower pace for the period while government spending tumbled sharply in a quarter marked by the record-length shutdown.
For the full year in 2025, the U.S. economy grew at a 2.2% pace, down from the 2.8% increase in 2024. The US President warned prior to the release about a potential soft GDP number, blaming it on the Government shutdown that ended last November. In a post on Truth Social, Trump posted “The Democrat Shutdown cost the U.S.A. at least two points in GDP. That’s why they are doing it, in mini form, again. No Shutdowns!” while also taking a shot at the Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, as he wrote “Also, LOWER INTEREST RATES. ‘Two Late’ Powell is the WORST!!!”, after having repeatedly criticized him for not lowering rates aggressively.
While growth slowed, inflation held firm in December, as the core PCE index rising 3% in December, up 0.2% from November, according to a separate release.
EQUITY MARKET RECAP
INDIAN INDICES
GLOBAL MARKETS
INDIAN MARKETS – THE WEEKLY WRAP
Indices – Benchmark and Broader
At close on Thursday, the Sensex was down 1,236.11 points or 1.48 percent at 82,498.14, and the Nifty was down 365 points or 1.41 percent at 25,454.35.
The broader indices mirrored the performance of the benchmark indices, with the Nifty Midcap index declining 1.6 percent and the Nifty Smallcap index falling 1.3 percent.
While on Friday, the Sensex was up 316.57 points or 0.38 percent at 82,814.71, and the Nifty was up 116.90 points or 0.46 percent at 25,571.25 at close.
(Takeaway- For The Weekly Wrap, both BSE Sensex and Nifty50 posted marginal gains)
Meanwhile, Broader indices were mixed, as the Nifty Midcap index gained 0.5 percent, whereas the Smallcap index closed slightly in the red.
Sector and Stock Movement
Amid broad based selling and profit booking across sectors, all the major sectoral indices closed in red on Thursday with Auto, Capital Goods, Realty, Power, Consumer Durables, Media down 2% each. More than 140 stocks touched their 52 week-low while another 100 stocks hit their 52 week-high.
While on February 20, Friday, all the major indices except IT (down ~1%) ended in green, with power, metal, capital goods, PSU Bank up 1-2%.
Hindalco Industries, NTPC, SBI Life, L&T, Coal India were among major gainers on the Nifty, while losers were Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Eternal, HCL Technologies and Grasim Industries. While more than 200 stocks touched their 52 week-low including Ola Electric, Suzlon Energy, LT Technology, Wipro, among others.
Institutional Trading Activity & Market Turnover
On Thursday, both domestic and foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the Indian equities, with the domestic investors (DIIs) net selling shares worth Rs 596 crore, while foreign investors (FIIs/FPIs) net sold Rs 881 crore worth of Indian equities, as per provisional exchange data.
While on Friday, the foreign investors (FIIs/FPIs) net sold Rs 935 crore worth of Indian equities while the domestic investors (DIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 2637 crore, according to provisional data on the exchange.
That’s all from me in this edition of The Weekly Wrap. Until next time..
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