Bank Nifty closed at 53,439.00 (+0.44%) on 21 May 2026, gaining 234.90 points from the previous close of 53,204.10, confirming a private bank-led recovery session. However, the market faces significant headwinds with GIFT Nifty down 199 points at 23,654.5, indicating a gap-down opening that would disproportionately affect rate-sensitive financial stocks. According to Univest analysis, the decline was driven by PSU banking names and select private lenders outweighing gains in heavyweight counters. The Nasdaq surged 1.55% to 26,270.36 on Nvidia's earnings beat, but domestic factors remain constraining with G-Sec yields at 6-week highs, Rupee weakness near ₹96 per Dollar and FII net selling of ₹1,597.35 crore on 20 May.
Nandish Shah of HDFC Securities has recommended a Bear Spread strategy on Nifty for today's trading session. According to reports from Business Standard, the strategy is based on short build-up in Nifty Futures where open interest rose by 17% along with a price fall of 0.14%. The Nifty Open Interest Put Call ratio has fallen to 1 from 1.24 levels due to call writing at 23800-24000 levels. The primary trend remains weak as Nifty is placed below its 200 day EMA, while short-term trend has turned weak as it has closed below its 5 and 11 day EMA. Shah advises booking profit when ROI exceeds 20%.
HDFC Securities has also recommended a Bull Spread strategy on Aurobindo Pharma for the 26-May expiry. As reported by Business Standard, the strategy involves buying Aurobindo Pharma 1560 CALL at ₹31 and simultaneously selling 1600 CALL at ₹17.50 with a lot size of 550. The maximum profit is ₹14,575 if Aurobindo Pharma closes at or above 1600 on 26 May expiry, while maximum loss is ₹7,425 if it closes at or below 1560. The breakeven point is ₹1573.5 with a risk reward ratio of 1:1.96 and approximate margin required of ₹1,57,000.
According to Business Standard, Devarsh Vakil expects Nifty aggregate earnings of around ₹1,250 per share with earnings growth of 12 to 13 percent on the horizon. He notes that April was already one of the best months for markets in several years and expects momentum to return once the current bout of weakness passes. Vakil recommends IT stocks as a tactical buy despite acknowledging that the longer-term business model of large IT companies is under pressure as the industry shifts from time-based contracts to outcome-based contracts driven by artificial intelligence. He expects a 15 to 20 percent bounce possible over the next three to six months and recommends moving from underweight to equal weight on IT for institutional investors, while seeing real opportunity in nimble midcap and smallcap IT companies that can implement AI solutions for enterprise clients.
