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Key gauges end with minor cuts on Thursday
May-21-2026

Indian equity benchmarks ended marginally lower in a volatile day of trade on Thursday, surrendering their early gains, amid profit-taking in blue-chip stocks. Besides, exchange data showed Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,597.35 crore on Wednesday. 

Some of the important factors in trade: 

US team may visit India for trade talks: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said the US team is likely to visit India next month for trade talks with their counterparts. The Indian side visited Washington, DC, in April for an in-person round of meetings with their US counterparts to finalise the details of the interim pact and take forward the negotiations under the broader bilateral trade agreement (BTA). 

Eight key infrastructure sectors’ output growth rises to 2-month high of 1.7% in April: 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. 

India's private sector growth eases marginally in May 2026: 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.

RBI to conduct $5 billion USD-INR swap auction to boost liquidity on May 26: In order to boost long-term liquidity in the banking system, the Reserve Bank of Inda (RBI) will conduct a $5 billion USD-INR buy-sell swap auction on May 26, 2026.  

Global front: European markets were trading lower as the S&P Global Eurozone Composite PMI fell to 47.5 in May of 2026 from 48.8 in the previous month, firmly below market expectations of 48.8 to reflect the sharpest pace of decline in private-sector activity since October of 2023. Asian markets settled mixed as investors digested Nvidia's strong earnings and monitored peace talks between the United States and Iran.  

Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 135.03 points or 0.18% to 75,183.36 and the CNX Nifty was down by 4.30 points or 0.02% to 23,654.70.

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 75,945.79 and 74,996.78, respectively. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.29%, Industrials up by 1.08%, Realty up by 1.06%, Basic Materials up by 0.91% and Telecom up by 0.80%, while TECK down by 0.62%, IT down by 0.53%, Utilities down by 0.42%, FMCG down by 0.42% and Bankex down by 0.24% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Interglobe Aviation up by 3.16%, Bharat Electronics up by 1.77%, Trent up by 1.75%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 1.12% and Ultratech Cement up by 0.95%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.74%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.44%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.37%, Infosys down by 1.27% and Bajaj Finserv down by 1.25% 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.

CNX Nifty touched high and low of 23,859.90 and 23,596.60, respectively. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Grasim Industries up by 6.43%, Interglobe Aviation up by 3.17%, Apollo Hospital up by 3.11%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.79% and Trent up by 1.78%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.62%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.40%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.33%, Infosys down by 1.30% and Bajaj Finserv down by 1.24% were the top losers.  

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 52.44 points or 0.5% to 10,379.90, France’s CAC fell 31.02 points or 0.38% to 8,086.40 and Germany’s DAX lost 165.24 points or 0.67% to 24,572.00.

Asian markets settled mixed on Thursday as Federal Reserve minutes revealed a hawkish tone, with a majority of policymakers signalling that further interest rate hikes would be necessary if inflation remains sticky above their 2% target. However, Seoul shares spiked, led by technology shares after strong earnings from Nvidia. Further, there were some encouragements in the markets as US President Trump said the US was in the final stages of negotiations with Iran. Besides, tumbling crude oil prices on hopes of the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz reduced fears of energy-driven inflationary pressures. On the economic data front, South Korea's Producer prices climbed 2.5% month-on-month in April, accelerating from 1.7% in March due to higher petroleum and raw materials prices stemming from the ongoing war in Iran.

Asian Indices

Last Trade            

Change in Points

Change in %      

Shanghai Composite

4,077.28

-84.91

-2.04

Hang Seng

25,386.52

-264.60

-1.03

Jakarta Composite

6,094.94

-223.56

-3.67

KLSE Composite

1,708.36

-9.33

-0.54

Nikkei 225

61,684.14

1,879.73

3.14

Straits Times

5,045.71

0.80

0.02

KOSPI Composite

7,815.59

606.64

8.42

Taiwan Weighted

41,368.21

1,347.39

3.37
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