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Key gauges remain in red in morning deals
May-20-2026

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade lower in morning deals, due to elevated oil prices, weak global market trends and renewed fears of restart of military operations if Iran failed to reach a peace deal. Besides, rupee’s free fall against dollar and the outflow by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) dampened investor sentiment. Traders also remained cautious as India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra) has projected India's economic growth to decelerate to 6.7 per cent in the current fiscal year on slowdown in demand and supply and retail inflation is expected to stay within the RBI's tolerance band at 4.4 per cent despite recent fuel price hikes. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank has proposed a revised disclosure framework for banks under Basel III norms, requiring lenders to disclose and publish more granular information on capital adequacy, leverage, liquidity and risk exposure to improve transparency and market discipline. On the global front, Asian markets were trading lower following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, as surging crude oil prices led to a sustained acceleration in the pace of inflation and continued to drive global bond yields higher, increasing the possibility of an interest rate hike in the coming months to combat inflation. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 75005.83, down by 195.02 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 74529.41 and 75014.65. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 0.60%, Energy up by 0.43%, Healthcare up by 0.41%, Oil & Gas up by 0.32% and Auto up by 0.20%, while FMCG down by 0.71%, Basic Materials down by 0.69%, Realty down by 0.68%, Bankex down by 0.61% and Consumer Durables down by 0.60% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 0.92%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 0.62%, Sun Pharma up by 0.52%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.43% and TCS up by 0.23%. On the flip side, Bharat Electronics down by 2.78%, Tata Steel down by 2.37%, Eternal down by 1.34%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.86% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.82% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that Indian businesses should transform the current global economic uncertainties into growth prospects and avoid panicking over the situation. According to him, the present global situation and geopolitical uncertainties should be viewed as an opportunity for India to improve business processes, speed up reforms, increase resilience and strengthen supply chains. 

He stated ‘India and Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi have never let a crisis go by and the situation in the world is truly an opportunity, a moment of uncertainty that we should engage more deeply with. Find ways to strengthen our business processes and prepare ourselves on these uncertain times for brighter and better future.’ He pointed out that lessons learnt during the COVID period had demonstrated the effectiveness of digital engagement and remote working models.

He said ‘In this scenario, there is no need to panic’. He noted that the West Asia crisis and emerging technologies such as AI bring opportunities for Indian industry to seize. He urged industry to become more efficient and cut waste by learning from global best practices, including Japan’s manufacturing methods.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23562.10, down by 55.90 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 23397.30 and 23567.45. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 3.26%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.22%, ONGC up by 1.15%, Reliance Industries up by 0.74% and Cipla up by 0.51%. On the flip side, Bharat Electronics down by 2.83%, Tata Steel down by 2.45%, Eternal down by 1.35%, JSW Steel down by 1.24% and Grasim Industries down by 1.16% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading lower; Nikkei 225 slipped 918.59 points or 1.52% to 59,632.00, Taiwan Weighted lost 120.61 points or 0.3% to 40,054.95, Jakarta Composite plunged 38.5 points or 0.6% to 6,332.18, Shanghai Composite weakened 3.82 points or 0.09% to 4,165.72, KOSPI dropped 148.66 points or 2.04% to 7,123.00, Hang Seng declined 133.85 points or 0.52% to 25,664.00 and Straits Times fell 41.21 points or 0.81% to 5,031.13. 
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