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Nifty showed -0.56%, but inside it PSU Bank was +8.9% and IT was -19.5%
Published by The Retail Trader · FEB 27, 2026 · Monthly Audit
February 2026 is the clearest example of how the index number hides the market's story. Nifty closed half a percent lower. In the same month one sector fell 19.5%.
20 sessions:
• Bank Nifty — +1.54%
• Midcap 100 — +1.17%
• Nifty 500 — +0.38%
• Nifty 50 — -0.56%
• Sensex — -1.19%
Across Nifty's 20 sessions, 13 were up and only 7 were down — so most days were green, and still the month closed slightly negative. The best day was 3 February (+2.55%), the worst was 19 February (-1.41%).
In a single month:
• PSU Bank — +8.9%
• Pharma — +5.7%
• Metal — +3.5%
• Media — +2.2%
• Bank — +1.5%
• FMCG — -0.1%
• Realty — -0.3%
• IT — -19.5%
IT's -19.5% is among the biggest monthly sector moves in the entire dataset. And of the other seven sectors, six were positive or flat. If your portfolio was IT-heavy, February was a crash for you; if it was PSU Bank-heavy, it was a good month. The index was reading 'flat' for both.
The index return is not your return. This is exactly why every monthly audit has a sector-level breakdown in the chart — the answer to 'how did the market do' was eight different answers this month.
India VIX from 11.55 to 14.36, close 13.70 — calm. So this sector-level destruction happened without any market-wide panic, which makes it even more interesting.
All figures in this article are computed from The Retail Trader's own daily index database, up to 24 July 2026. Past performance is no indication of the future, and this analysis is for education only — it is not a buy or sell recommendation.