Indian equity benchmarks ended lower on Wednesday amid renewed uncertainty over a potential US-Iran peace agreement. Markets made a negative start and extended their losses during the first half of the session, weighed down by broad-based selling in IT stocks. In the afternoon session, gains in PSU and financial stocks helped the indices to recover from the day's lows. Despite this recovery, benchmarks closed marginally lower.
Some of the important factors in trade:
USTR proposes 12.5% additional duties on India: Traders remained cautious after a report stated that the US Trade Representative (USTR) has proposed slapping 12.5 per cent additional duties on 54 countries, including India, for failing to prohibit the import of goods produced with forced labour.
West Asia conflict poses major challenge for Indian MSMEs in this Fiscal: Traders remained cautious as Crisil report stated that Headwinds stemming from the ongoing conflict in West Asia will hit micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in India hard this fiscal year, impacting both revenue and profitability, with clusters like Morbi, Firozabad, Surat, Vadodara seen most hit.
Ongoing FIIs outflows: Traders were concerned as the foreign investors maintained their selling streak in domestic equities. The data showed that the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold Rs 8,362.92 crore worth of assets across the stock exchanges in a single day on June 02.
On the global front: European markets are trading in red, amid renewed Middle East tensions continued to push oil prices higher. Asian markets ended mostly in green, tracking positive cues from Wall Street overnight.
The BSE Sensex ended at 74346.17, down by 303.67 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 73492.60 and 74515.65. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 2.04%, Bankex up by 0.91%, PSU up by 0.54%, Healthcare up by 0.48% and Capital Goods up by 0.07%, while IT down by 5.01%, TECK down by 3.12%, Realty down by 1.52%, FMCG down by 0.92%, and Consumer Durables down by 0.53% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)
The top gainers on the Sensex were Interglobe Aviation up by 1.57%, SBI up by 1.43%, ICICI Bank up by 1.30%, Trent up by 1.13% and Power Grid Corp up by 1.01%. On the flip side, TCS down by 8.43%, Tech Mahindra down by 6.23%, HCL Technologies down by 5.25%, Infosys down by 3.82% and ITC down by 2.21% were the top losers. (Provisional)
Meanwhile, India’s services sector continued to witness robust expansion in the month of May 2026, with strengthening demand for services such as freight, digital solutions, e-commerce, entertainment and IT. External demand for India-provided services also grew at a faster pace, rebounding after a sharp decline in April. As a result, companies lifted activity to a greater extent and continued to add to payroll numbers.
According to the survey report, the seasonally adjusted HSBC India Services PMI Business Activity Index surged to 59.8 in May from 58.8 in April. Further, the HSBC India Composite PMI Output Index -- which measures both manufacturing and services -- also jumped to 59.3 in May as against 58.2 in April. Besides, input cost inflation eased, which in turn reduced pressure on selling prices.
There was a negligible uptick in outstanding business volumes at Indian service providers during May. Regarding the 12-month outlook for business activity, services firms collectively expressed optimism. They generally expect demand conditions to remain favourable and therefore support output. However, the overall level of confidence slipped to a three-month low and was below the historical trend.
The CNX Nifty ended at 23405.60, down by 77.95 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 23151.50 and 23459.65. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)
The top gainers on Nifty were Apollo Hospital up by 2.48%, Tata Motors Passenger up by 2.04%, Max Healthcare Inst up by 1.78%, SBI up by 1.44% and ICICI Bank up by 1.26%. On the flip side, TCS down by 8.39%, Tech Mahindra down by 6.31%, HCL Technologies down by 5.19%, Infosys down by 3.79% and Wipro down by 2.74% were the top losers. (Provisional)
European markets were trading lower; Germany’s DAX lost 301.67 points or 1.2% to 24,822.50, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 32.23 points or 0.31% to 10,341.28 and France’s CAC fell 22.29 points or 0.27% to 8,186.80.
Asian markets ended mostly higher on Wednesday tracking Wall Street’s gains overnight as renewed enthusiasm for artificial intelligence offset inflation fears and Fed rate hike expectations. Japanese shares gained after the cabinet approved a 3.1 trillion-yen supplementary budget aimed at cushioning the economic impact of rising energy costs caused by middle east tensions. Chinese shares rose after a private survey showed China's services activity expanded at the fastest pace in three months in May, driven by stronger growth in new business and a rebound in overseas demand. Meanwhile, stock market of south Korea was closed for Election Day.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 4,083.97 | 8.87 | 0.22 |
Hang Seng | 25,633.21 | -405.11 | -1.56 |
Jakarta Composite | 5,941.07 | -254.36 | -4.28 |
KLSE Composite | 1,672.74 | -10.33 | -0.61 |
Nikkei 225 | 68,402.13 | 1,667.89 | 2.50 |
Straits Times | 5,138.24 | 40.82 | 0.80 |
KOSPI Composite | -- | -- | -- |
Taiwan Weighted | 46,459.16 | 901.85 | 1.98 |
