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

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Equity Alert: Markets open down after Trump's threat to Iran; rupee at record low

 

MUMBAI--0937 IST--The benchmark indices opened lower after US President Donald Trump issued fresh threats of resuming military strikes on Iran. Following this, the July futures contract of Brent Crude rose to a high of over $111 per barrel. The rupee fell to a new record low of 96.96 after the open. At 0936 IST, the Nifty 50 was at 23508.95, down 109.05 points or 0.5%. The BSE Sensex was at 74828.86, down 371.99 points or 0.5%.

 

Hindalco Industries was the only Nifty 50 stock in positive territory when the market opened. The stock was up over 1% and was the top gainer in the 50-stock index. After a couple of minutes, shares of Cipla and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries also moved into positive territory, rising 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively. Information technology majors Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, and Wipro rose 0.1-0.2%.

 

Tata Steel was the worst-hit stock in the Nifty 50, down nearly 3%. Its peer JSW Steel fell nearly 2%. Mahindra & Mahindra, Grasim Industries, Maruti Suzuki India, UltraTech Cement, Nestle India, State Bank of India, and Eternal all fell around 1?ch. Bharat Electronics fell over 2%. The company's March quarter profit grew at its slowest pace in 13 quarters.

 

All the broader market indices were in the red. The Nifty Midcap indices were down 0.4% and the Nifty Smallcap indices fell 0.5-0.6%. The Nifty Pharma was the best performer among sectoral indices, up 0.4%. The Nifty Media fell nearly 2% and was the worst-hit sectoral index.

 

Zydus Lifesciences was the best performer in both the Nifty 200 and Nifty 500 indices. It rose nearly 5%. Various brokerages have upgraded their recommendation on the stock after the company posted its March quarter earnings during market hours Tuesday. Nuvama changed its call on Zydus Life to "hold" as the brokerage expects the company's business to progress to a better mix.

 

PI Industries was the worst hit in both the Nifty 200 and Nifty 500 indices, falling nearly 6%. The company reported its worst fall since 2019 in consolidated net profit for the March quarter. The bottom line fell over 39% on year to INR 2 billion.  (Adhithya Aji)

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Equity Alert: To open down after Trump threat to attack Iran; oil prices rise

 

MUMBAI--0825 IST--The benchmark indices are expected to open lower after US President Donald Trump said the US might need to strike Iran again. Brent crude oil price crossed the $110 per-barrel mark again after Trump's comment. Asian equity indices were in the red in early trade. The global news flow and consequent changes in crude oil price are expected to largely decide market sentiment in the near term, analysts said. At 0820 IST, the Brent Crude July futures contract was largely flat from Tuesday's close at $111.25 a barrel.

 

Trump said Iran will have to face a fresh strike if it does not reach a deal in "two or three days" to end the war, adding that Iran's leaders are "begging" for a deal. He made the comment a day after his decision to call off planned attacks on Iran.

 

Addressing a White House press briefing Tuesday, US Vice-President J.D. Vance said the Iran conflict will not become a "forever war", Firstpost reported. He further said he was "not certain" about the prospects of a peace deal with Iran, but added that he feels good about the chances of working towards an agreement.

 

At 0822 IST, the May futures contract of GIFT Nifty was down 0.4% at 23419.50 points from Tuesday's close. The movement in the GIFT Nifty suggested a lower opening for the benchmark indices. The spot level of the GIFT Nifty was nearly 200 points short of the Nifty 50's Tuesday close of 23618 points. "The index faces immediate resistance near 23800, while the support zone is placed in the 23262–23317 range in the near term," Nandish Shah, senior derivative and technical analyst at HDFC Securities, said.

 

Shares of Grasim Industries and Apollo Hospitals Enterprise will be in focus as they will detail their March quarter earnings later in the day. Grasim Industries is expected to report subdued earnings as the company's volumes are likely to see a dip and the margins of its paints and chemical businesses are likely to be weak. The company's net loss is expected to shrink in the March quarter to INR 1.42 billion from INR 2.88 billion, reported in the corresponding quarter a year ago. Its top line is likely to rise almost 19% to INR 106.16 billion on a standalone basis.

 

Apollo Hospitals is expected to post a strong rise in its net profit and revenue for the March quarter, driven by healthy performance in its hospital business and pharmacy segment. It is expected to post a net profit of INR 4.75 billion, up 22% on year. The company's top line is seen at INR 64.52 billion for the reporting quarter, up 15% on year.

 

Most Asian equity indices were down, with the TOPIX First Section down 1.7%. All three major US indices settled lower for the previous session.  (Arundathi A R)

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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 96.85

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

 

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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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