Volatility persisted in Indian equity markets during early afternoon session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading below their neutral lines, on the back of selling at Power, Capital Goods and Industrials counters, due to uncertainty over US-Iran peace deal. Traders got cautious, as India's gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections moderated to Rs 1.94 lakh crore in May 2026 from a record Rs 2.42 lakh crore in April, though revenues remained 3.2% higher than the Rs 1.88 lakh crore collected in the same month last year.
On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, even after China's manufacturing sector growth softened in May, while inflationary pressures showed signs of easing. The survey data from S&P Global revealed that the headline RatingDog manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 51.8 from 52.2 seen in April. The indicator has remained above the 50.0 no-change mark for the sixth straight month in May.
Back home, auto stocks were in watch, on the back of sales data for the month of May 2026. Bajaj Auto has reported rise of 20% in total sales (domestic + exports) to 4,61,257 units in May 2026 as against 3,84,621 in the same month last year, while Maruti Suzuki India has reported an 34.77% rise in total sales (Domestic + Export) to 2,42,688 units in May 2026 as compared to sales of 1,80,077 units in May 2025.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 74710.78, down by 64.96 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 74606.77 and 75367.93. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 3.69%, TECK up by 2.37%, Telecom up by 0.61%, Energy up by 0.43% and Metal up by 0.23%, while Power down by 2.03%, Capital Goods down by 1.88%, Industrials down by 1.36%, Utilities down by 1.32% and FMCG down by 0.88% were the top losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Tech Mahindra up by 4.84%, Infosys up by 4.78%, TCS up by 3.51%, Interglobe Aviation up by 2.18% and HCL Tech. up by 2.18%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.42%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.38%, Bharat Electronics down by 1.35%, NTPC down by 1.33% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.23% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, at a time when West Asia conflict triggered a massive global energy shock, Chief economic advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran has suggested that the government needs to prioritise managing macroeconomic fundamentals like the balance of payments and current account deficit. He refrained from giving any policy prescriptions on the securitisation front and stressed that the financial market has to keep up with the activity in the real sector and reminded that it was the extra focus on derivative products which led to the Global Financial Crisis in 2008.
Regarding the Rs 3 lakh annual income limit leading to qualification as microfinance, Nageswaran said he is against this system of putting numerical thresholds and would rather like the policy to come out with ratios on the same. He added that income thresholds when the economy was $1 trillion in size cannot be the same when the economy has grown to over $4 trillion, and the average incomes have also grown.
On the Priority Sector Lending (PSL) mandate, he pointed that this is resulting in higher volumes. PSL is a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) mandate that requires banks to allocate a specific percentage of their Adjusted Net Bank Credit (ANBC) to underserved economic sectors. The primary goal behind the PSL mandate is to ensure that credit flows to crucial segments like agriculture and small businesses.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23518.85, down by 28.90 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 23486.00 and 23733.70. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 4.72%, Infosys up by 4.63%, Coal India up by 3.34%, TCS up by 3.30% and HCL Tech. up by 2.21%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.78%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.76%, Tata Consumer Products down by 1.65%, Max Healthcare down by 1.54% and Bajaj Finance down by 1.52% were the top losers.
Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI increased 312.23 points or 3.55% to 8,788.38, Hang Seng advanced 254.61 points or 1.01% to 25,437.00, Taiwan Weighted added 604.97 points or 1.33% to 45,337.91 and Nikkei 225 surged 675.5 points or 1.01% to 67,005.00, while Shanghai Composite weakened 10.86 points or 0.27% to 4,057.71.
