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Weak trade persists in late afternoon session
May-21-2026

Benchmarks continued to trade below the neutral lines in late afternoon session amid last hour volatility ahead of weekly expiry of Sensex F&O contracts. Also, the foreign fund outflows weighed on risk sentiments. foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were the net sellers on Wednesday’s session offloading securities worth Rs 1,597.35 crore. However, losses remained capped as investors were sanguine about US-Iran peace deal to end the conflict in West Asia. Further, The Ministry of Commerce & Industry in its latest data has showed that eight key infrastructure sectors’ output growth rose to a two-month high of 1.7 per cent in April 2026, supported by higher output of steel, cement and electricity.

On the global front, Asian equity markets were trading mixed amid high Treasury yields. European equity markets were trading mostly in green as traders kept close eye on US-Iran peace talks. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 75218.33, down by 100.06 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 74996.78 and 75945.79. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.37%, Industrials up by 1.10%, Realty up by 0.93%, Telecom up by 0.88% and Basic Materials up by 0.79%, while TECK down by 0.64%, IT down by 0.56%, FMCG down by 0.43%, Bankex down by 0.33% and Utilities down by 0.23% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Interglobe Aviation up by 3.70%, Trent up by 1.98%, Bharat Electronics up by 1.63%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.16% and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries up by 0.70%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.41%, Infosys down by 1.30%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.27%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.18% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.09% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India's private sector growth eased marginally in the month of May 2026, amid weaker increases in total new orders, international sales, employment and business activity. Further, after retreating in April, input price inflation ticked higher, but firms limited the pass-through of additional cost burdens to clients by lifting output charges to a lesser extent. Service providers outperformed manufacturers and experienced softer inflationary pressures.

According to the data report, the HSBC Flash India Manufacturing PMI eased from final reading of 54.7 in April to 54.3 in May, while HSBC Flash India Services PMI Business Activity Index rose to 58.9 in May from April’s final reading of 58.8. Besides, the HSBC Flash India PMI Composite Output Index - a seasonally adjusted index that measures the month-on-month change in the combined output of India's manufacturing and service sectors - was down from a final reading of 58.2 in April to 58.1 in May.

The report further noted that service providers hired extra staff to the greatest extent in nearly a year. Conversely, job creation at goods producers softened from April. Besides, business confidence remained strongly positive in May, with the overall level of positive sentiment remaining above its long-run average despite retreating to a three-month low. Competitive pricing strategies, marketing efforts and hopes of better market conditions in the coming months underpinned optimism.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23663.60, up by 4.60 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 23596.60 and 23859.90. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Grasim Industries up by 5.95%, Interglobe Aviation up by 3.63%, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise up by 2.97%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.44% and Max Healthcare Inst up by 1.99%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.32%, ONGC down by 1.24%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.20%, Shriram Finance down by 1.15% and Tata Consumer Products down by 1.11% were the top losers.

Asian equity markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 surged 1939.59 points or 3.14% to 61,744.00, Taiwan Weighted added 1347.39 points or 3.26% to 41,368.21 and KOSPI increased 606.64 points or 7.76% to 7,815.59, while Hang Seng declined 256.12 points or 1.01% to 25,395.00, Straits Times fell 0.78 points or 0.02% to 5,044.13, Shanghai Composite weakened 84.9 points or 2.08% to 4,077.28 and Jakarta Composite plunged 205.75 points or 3.37% to 6,112.75.

European equity markets were trading mostly in green; France’s CAC rose 12.88 points or 0.16% to 8,130.30 and Germany’s DAX gained 2.76 points or 0.01% to 24,740.00, while UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 11.58 points or 0.11% to 10,420.76.
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