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Informist, Wednesday, May 20, 2026                                      Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

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Equity Alert: Indices in Asia fall on inflation fears, West Asia conflict

 

MUMBAI--0815 IST--All major stock indices in Asia opened lower Wednesday as concerns about a prolonged war between the US and Iran continue to plague investors. Higher bond yields further dampened sentiment. Markets in Japan underperformed their peers in the region. The Nikkei 225 and the TOPIX were down 1.2% and 1.5%, respectively.  

 

In Japan, the 30-year and 10-year bond yields eased slightly but were still elevated. The 10-year yield was up over 2.7%.  "...in Japan, 10-year yields have continued to march higher to multi-decade highs at 2.7% as the Bank of Japan remains concerned about the inflation outlook and as two additional hikes are priced in by year-end by the market," research firm BMI said in a report. 

 

In other news, Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing for bilateral talks. This comes soon after US President Donald Trump's meeting with Xi concluded. Energy will be among the key topics at the discussion table, according to several reports. In focus will be making progress on a long-due energy project, the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline. The project is expected to carry 50 billion cubic metres of gas per year to China through Mongolia. Around 40 documents are expected to be signed, and a 47-page joint statement on strengthening ties will likely be issued, Reuters reported, citing the Kremlin.

 

The following were the levels of major Asian indices at 0814 IST:

 

Index	Level	Change in %
CSI 300 Index	4851.6658	(-)0.03
Hang Seng Index	25654.43	(-)0.56
Nikkei 225 Day	59872.92	(-)1.12
TOPIX FIRST SECTION	3785.04	(-)1.70
KOSPI	7296.57	0.34
FTSE Singapore Strait Times	5033.83	(-)0.76
S&P/ASX 200 Index	8531.50	(-)0.85

 

(Ruchira Kagita)

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Equity Alert: US indices end lower as inflation concerns drive yields higher

 

MUMBAI--0729 IST--All the three major indices on Wall Street ended in the red Tuesday as concerns about inflation rearing its head again dampened sentiment. Bond yields surged yet again, with the benchmark US 10-year treasury yield at 4.687% and the 30-year yield touching 5.19% at one point. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ ended lower for the third straight session.

 

Brent crude oil futures slipped a tad but remained above $110 per barrel, worsening risk-off sentiment. Investors do not anticipate the war between the US and Iran to cease soon. "There's nothing constructive that's leading us to believe there's going to be a ceasefire with any sort of substance," Michael James, managing director and equity sales trader at Rosenblatt Securities, told Reuters.

 

Investors will watch out for chipmaker Nvidia Corp's earnings for the quarter ended late April. The company is expected to generate revenues of $78.5 billion for the quarter, S&P Global said. Strong demand for its graphic processing units from cloud service providers is supporting its growth in revenue, the firm said.

 

"So, the numbers they report tomorrow matter. More broadly, of course, investors across the Street — and really across asset classes — look to Nvidia as a signal for where the AI infrastructure buildout is going, and we'll be watching closely," Ben Snider, chief US equity strategist at Goldman Sachs, told CNBC. Shares of Nvidia closed almost 1% lower.

 

Following were the closing levels of major US indices on Tuesday:

 

US Indices	Levels	Change in %
Dow Jones Industrial Average	49363.88	(-)0.65
NASDAQ Composite	25870.71	(-)0.84
S&P 500	7353.61	(-)0.67

 

(Ruchira Kagita)

 

US$1 = INR 96.53

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

All prices from National Stock Exchange, unless otherwise specified.

All percentage changes for share prices are rounded off to the nearest whole number; percentage changes for index values are rounded off to one decimal place.

All times are Indian Standard Time.

 

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