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Informist, Friday, May 22, 2026

By Arundathi AR

MUMBAI – The domestic equity markets were up for the entire session Friday and the headline indices closed with minimal gains. The renewed hopes of a potential US-Iran peace deal and the fall in crude oil prices to $105 a barrel helped the indices to settle higher after the previous choppy sessions. However, the Nifty 50 marked only marginal gains of 0.3% for the week.

The Nifty 50 settled at 23719.30, up over 64 points or 0.3% higher. The BSE Sensex ended at 75415.35, up almsot 232 points or 0.3% higher. Broader market indices, however, showed a mixed performance. All midcap indices ended in the green with marginal gains, while smallcap indices settled lower. Meanwhile, India VIX showed the nervousness among investors was still slightly higher. The volatility index was over 0.5% higher at 17.9100.

Banking and financial services stocks were the major contributors to the Nifty 50's gains. Among the sectoral indices also, the Nifty Private Bank, Nifty Financial Services, and the Nifty Bank settled as the top three gainers, up over 1% each. The pack of sectoral indices showed a mixed performance, with most indices ending lower.

Gains in index heavyweights ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank supported the index to remain higher. The stocks gained 1-2%. Shriram Finance, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, Jio Financial Services, and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the other top gainers in the 50-stock pack, which are 1-3% higher.

Meanwhile, pharmaceutical and healthcare stocks dragged the Nifty 50 most. The Nifty Healthcare and Nifty Pharma were the major losers among sectoral indices, down over 1% each. Max Healthcare Institute and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries shed the most among the Nifty 50 stocks, down 2.5-6.2%.  More