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Indices recover from day’s lows but trade slightly in red
May-20-2026

Domestic equity indices recovered from the day’s lows but remained in the red in late morning session amid renewed geopolitical tensions. Traders were cautious after U.S. President Donald Trump said that he was an hour away from deciding to attack Iran, before he was persuaded to postpone the strike for a few days. Further, rising U.S. Treasuries yields and weak cues from the global markets weighed on domestic sentiments. Yields on U.S. Treasurys advanced Tuesday as investors continued to dump bonds on fears inflation is reigniting. The 30-year Treasury yield in U.S. hit the highest level in nearly 19 years. Besides, cautiousness also prevailed in markets 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. On the BSE sectoral front, traders were seen piling up positions in Auto, Energy, Oil & Gas, Capital Goods and Power, while selling was witnessed in FMCG, Utilities, Consumer Durables, Basic Materials and PSU. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red following negative cues from the US markets overnight. Back home, in the stock specific development, Mankind Pharma surged as the company received approval to make additional investment of up to Rs 500 crore in Mankind Medicare, a wholly owned subsidiary, in one or more tranches. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 75078.80, down by 122.05 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 74529.41 and 75096.45. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 0.72%, Energy up by 0.51%, Oil & Gas up by 0.47%, Capital Goods up by 0.41% and Power up by 0.36%, while FMCG down by 0.73%, Utilities down by 0.57%, Consumer Durables down by 0.56%, Basic Materials down by 0.52% and PSU down by 0.41% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 1.02%, Axis Bank up by 0.48%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.44%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.42% and Bajaj Finserv up by 0.38%. On the flip side, Bharat Electronics down by 2.62%, Tata Steel down by 2.25%, Eternal down by 1.07%, ITC down by 0.69% and ICICI Bank down by 0.65% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, additional Secretary in the commerce ministry Darpan Jain has said that the India-European Union (EU) Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will help attract more investments into India and will result in more manufacturing of automobiles in India and exporting to third countries. The India-EU FTA negotiations concluded on January 27, 2026 and the historic pact is expected to come into force from next year. 

He said the automotive sector had appeared to be one of the most challenging sticking points during the India-EU trade talk due to India's historically high import duties on vehicles, but the country has converted those challenges into opportunities through the agreement. India has provided quota-based, long-phased solutions in the sector so that there are concessions also to the EU but at the same time the Indian industry also gets adequate protection. He also said that as the EU has over 40 free trade agreements with 70 nations, Indian exporters can benefit from those pacts.

He further said prices of imported European cars are widely expected to come down after India agreed to gradually reduce duty under its FTA with the EU from as high as 110 percent to just 10 percent, applicable to up to 2.5 lakh vehicles per year, over six times more offered to the UK. On Social Security Agreements (SSAs) with European Union members, he said India already has this pact with 14 countries out of 27 members. He said ‘seven we are negotiating and 6 more are being planned’. These pacts help avoid double contribution to social security funds by Indian professionals working for a limited period in the European Union member nations.  

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23582.05, down by 35.95 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 23397.30 and 23598.15. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 3.16%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.84%, ONGC up by 1.35%, Reliance Industries up by 0.95% and Tata MotorsPassenger up by 0.89%. On the flip side, Bharat Electronics down by 2.70%, Tata Steel down by 2.27%, Nestle down by 1.34%, Eternal down by 1.18% and JIO Financial down by 0.98% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading lower; Nikkei 225 slipped 905.59 points or 1.5% to 59,645.00, Taiwan Weighted lost 107.81 points or 0.27% to 40,067.75, Jakarta Composite plunged 38.5 points or 0.61% to 6,332.18, Shanghai Composite weakened 13.59 points or 0.33% to 4,155.95, KOSPI dropped 140.22 points or 1.93% to 7,131.44, Hang Seng declined 205.85 points or 0.8% to 25,592.00 and Straits Times fell 40.29 points or 0.79% to 5,032.05.
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