Sensex falls 900 pts, Nifty below 25,600: Why are markets falling today?

Why markets are falling today: Indian equity benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty, were trading sharply lower on Friday, February 13, 2026, for the second consecutive day, dragged by the sell-off in shares of information technology (IT)-related companies.

The BSE Sensex tumbled 903 points in the intraday to hit a low of 82,771.75. The NSE Nifty50 also slipped below the 25,550 mark in the intraday to hit a low of 25,525.45, down 281.75 points from the previous session’s close of 25,807.20.

Around 9:45 AM, the BSE Sensex was trading at 82,894.28 levels, down by 780.64 points or 0.93 per cent, and the NSE Nifty50 was down 253.50 points or 0.98 per cent at 25,553.70 levels.

Twenty-seven of the 30 Sensex constituents were trading in red, including Infosys, TCS, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, Eternal, Hindustan Unilever, Adani Ports, Trent, Tata Steel, and Larsen & Toubro, down in the range of 1 to 6 per cent.

Similarly, in the broader market, the NSE MidCap 100 index was trading 1.60 per cent lower, and the Nifty SmallCap 100 index was down 1.78 per cent. 

All the sectoral indices were trading in the red. The Nifty IT index was the top laggard, down nearly 5 per cent, followed by Nifty Metal, Realty, FMCG, Oil & Gas, Chemicals, Media, Consumer Durables, Auto, Bank, Financial Services, Pharma, and Healthcare.

Here are the key reasons behind Sensex and Nifty fall today, February 13:

Sell-off in IT stocks: Overnight, the American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) of Infosys ended 9.8 per cent lower on the New York Stock Exchange, while the Wipro ADR slipped 4.6 per cent. This followed the Nifty IT index tumbling to a more than nine-month low on Thursday, amid growing concerns over the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on existing business models. 

VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Investments, said markets have entered into a turbulent phase, which will cause some panic among investors, even as it offers opportunities. 

“The sell-off in AI stocks in US markets was expected, but the timing and extent of the sell-off were not known. The 2.04 per cent decline in the Nasdaq is not a crash. But if the downtrend continues, it might pull the US market down,” he said.

However, Vijayakumar believes that this correction in AI stocks is a positive for the Indian market, because last year’s global rally was primarily an AI trade in which India, an AI laggard, could not participate. So the unwinding of the AI trade, if it persists, is a positive from the Indian perspective. 

“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,” he added. 

Strong US data clouds rate cut hopes: A better-than-expected US growth data and a marginal decline in the unemployment rate have lowered expectations that the US Federal Reserve will reduce key interest rates anytime soon. A prolonged high-interest rate environment is generally unfavourable for growth-oriented and technology stocks. Elevated rates keep financing costs high and can curb corporate expenditure, with discretionary technology investments often among the first to be deferred.

For Indian IT companies, which derive a significant share of their revenue from US-based clients, any moderation in American corporate technology spending can weigh on order inflows and near-term revenue visibility.

Retail liquidity crunch: According to G Chokkalingam, founder at Equinomics Research, the current market weakness is largely driven by liquidity constraints, particularly in the retail segment. 

“Over the last two to three years, IPOs, promoter stake sales, and sustained FII selling have collectively absorbed significant liquidity from the system, including in mid-cap stocks. At the same time, small- and mid-cap stocks have corrected sharply from their September 2024 peaks, with market capitalisation erosion running into several lakh crore, leaving many retail investors trapped in deep losses and limiting their ability to redeploy capital,” he said.