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Post Session: Quick Review
May-20-2026

Indian equity benchmarks rebounded sharply on Wednesday after witnessing significant selling pressure in the early session, as investors were concerned over rising crude oil prices. Markets made a gap-down opening, amid renewed fears over restart of military operations if Iran failed to reach a peace deal. However, strong buying in the final hours of the trade helped indices recover all losses and closed the session in positive terrain, led by gains in Banking and Oil & Gas stocks.

Some of the important factors in trade:

India, Nordic countries become ‘Green Technology and Innovation Strategic Partners’: Some support also came as India and the Nordic countries, which includes Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Sweden, have agreed to elevate their relationship to a Green Technology and Innovation Strategic Partnership.

India-EU FTA to help attract investments, boost auto manufacturing in India: Traders took support as 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.

Ind-Ra projects India's economic growth to slow down to 6.7% in FY27: Traders overlooked India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra) projection that 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.

On the global front: European markets were trading higher, despite Euro Area’s annual inflation rate came at 3.0% in April 2026, the highest since September 2023. Asian markets closed mostly in red, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight.

The BSE Sensex ended at 75318.39, up by 117.54 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 74529.41 and 75406.18. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.78%, Capital Goods up by 1.52%, Energy up by 1.45%, Oil & Gas up by 1.37%, and Industrials up by 0.91%, while FMCG down by 0.63%, TECK down by 0.25%, IT down by 0.24%, and Consumer Durables down by 0.15% were the few losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 3.00%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.33%, Trent up by 1.02%, Interglobe Aviation up by 0.99% and Axis Bank up by 0.98%. On the flip side, Bharat Electronics down by 2.27%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.97%, Eternal down by 1.58%, Tata Steel down by 1.15% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.01% were the top losers. (Provisional)

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 ended at 23659.00, up by 41.00 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 23397.30 and 23690.90. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 3.55%, Reliance Industries up by 2.80%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.52%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.27% and Grasim Industries up by 1.22%. On the flip side, Bharat Electronics down by 2.28%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.92%, Eternal down by 1.57%, Tata Steel down by 1.09% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.06% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading higher; France’s CAC rose 51.04 points or 0.64% to 8,032.80, Germany’s DAX gained 68.95 points or 0.28% to 24,469.60 and UK’s FTSE 100 increased 11.15 points or 0.11% to 10,341.70.

Asian markets settled lower on Wednesday tracking Wall Street’s fall overnight as rising inflation risks and geopolitical tensions lifted the 30-year US Treasury bond yield to its highest in nearly two decades and the 10-year yield to its highest level in more than a year. Moreover, traders fretted over a renewed escalation in the Middle East after US President Trump claimed the United States was just an hour away from launching a fresh military strike on Iran before postponing it at the request of Gulf leaders. Chinese shares dipped after the country's central bank -- People's Bank of China left benchmark lending rates unchanged for the 12th consecutive month in May, leaving the one-year loan prime rate at 3.0% and the five-year LPR at 3.5%. Japanese shares declined sharply as the yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond held at its highest level since 1997 on BoJ interest rate hike expectations.

Asian Indices

Last Trade            

Change in Points

Change in %      

Shanghai Composite

4,162.18

-7.35

-0.18

Hang Seng

25,651.12

-146.73

-0.57

Jakarta Composite

6,318.50

-52.18

-0.83

KLSE Composite

1,717.69

-9.58

-0.55

Nikkei 225

59,804.41

-746.18

-1.23

Straits Times

5,044.91

-27.43

-0.54

KOSPI Composite

7,208.95

-62.71

-0.86

Taiwan Weighted

40,020.82

-154.74

-0.39
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