Benchmarks likely to make cautious start on Wednesday

18 Feb 2026 Evaluate

Indian equity markets are likely to make cautious start on Wednesday ahead of release of key economic data from the US in the coming days. However, traders are likely to take support from foreign institutional investors (FIIs), who turned net buyers and purchased equities worth Rs 995.21 crore, on Tuesday.

Some of the key factors to be watched:

India, France elevate ties to special global strategic partnership: India and France have elevated their bilateral ties to a Special Global Strategic Partnership, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi describing the relationship as a force for global stability amid rising geopolitical turbulence.

Reserve Bank proposes easing foreign exchange transaction norms: The Reserve Bank has proposed greater flexibility to authorised persons to undertake foreign exchange transactions for hedging their exposures, balance sheet management and market-making, as well as to ease reporting obligations, after a review of the current regulations.

Govt invested in indigenous AI models to tackle bias: S Krishnan, Secretary in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has said that the government has invested in developing indigenous and sovereign artificial intelligence models to address concerns related to bias and to ensure that India has AI systems primarily trained on Indian data.

RBI absorbs nearly half of government's bond supply through OMO purchases in FY26: In order to support liquidity in the banking system, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has purchased government securities equivalent to 47 per cent of the Centre's total bond issuances so far in FY26.

Auto stocks will be in watch: Rating agency ICRA has said that Indian automotive Industry is likely to witness a normalisation of wholesale volume growth in 2026-27 following a period of elevated growth in the second half of 2025-26, which was driven largely by post-GST reform-led factors and favourable rural demand sentiments.

On the global front: The US markets ended in green on Tuesday led by technology and financial stocks. Asian markets are trading in green on Wednesday following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. Markets in China, Hong Kong and several regional exchanges remained closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.

Back home, in a volatile session, Indian equity benchmarks closed higher for the second straight session on Tuesday, driven by gains in IT, Industrials and FMCG shares. However, sustained outflow of foreign funds capped the upside. According to exchange data, foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 972.13 crore on Monday. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 173.81 points or 0.21% to 83,450.96 and the CNX Nifty was up by 42.65 points or 0.17% to 25,725.40.

Some of the important factors in trade:

India intensifying engagement with global partners: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that India is engaging with international partners more intensively and from a position of strength, citing a string of recent trade agreements as evidence of the country's growing economic clout.

India sees marginal growth in merchandise exports in January: The commerce ministry in its latest data has showed that India’s merchandise exports rose marginally by 0.61 per cent to $36.56 billion in January 2026 as compared to $36.34 billion in January 2025.

Improving timely credit access to MSMEs remains key policy priority: RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra has said that improving access to timely and adequate formal credit for MSMEs remains a key policy priority of the central bank.

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Benchmarks likely to make cautious start on Wednesday

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