The Indian equity benchmarks erased morning gains and ended lower on Thursday, May 21, dragged down by losses in index heavyweights. According to reports from The Economic Times, the SENSEX fell 135 points to close at 75,183, while the NIFTY50 index declined 4 points to settle at 23,655. The SENSEX fell as much as 949 points from the day's highest level and NIFTY50 touched an intraday low of 23,596 after hitting an intraday high of 23,860. Asian markets ended on a mixed note despite crude declining following comments from US President Donald Trump that the US is in the 'final stages' with Iran, signalling that energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz will resume soon.
Nine of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended higher, led by the NIFTY Realty index's 1% gain. As reported by The Economic Times, NIFTY Metal, Pharma, Auto, Consumer Durables and PSU Bank indices also rose between 0.2% and 0.4%. However, bank, financial services and FMCG shares faced mild selling pressure. Broader markets ended on a mixed note as NIFTY Midcap 100 index ended flat and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index gained 0.63%. According to Investing.com, losses in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Healthcare and Technology sectors led shares lower during the session.
Among individual stocks, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd hit their upper-circuit level, advancing 20% to ₹654.20 after reporting strong Q4 FY26 results. According to The Economic Times, the company posted a 48.92% increase in consolidated profit after tax to ₹30.38 crore in the January-March quarter, compared to ₹20.40 crore a year back. Grasim Industries was the top gainer in the NIFTY50, rising 6.43% to settle at ₹3,162 after posting a 31% YoY rise in consolidated net profit to ₹1,957 crore in Q4. Apollo Hospitals gained 3.11% to ₹8,330 and Bajaj Auto rose 1.79% to ₹10,650 in late trade. As reported by Investing.com, Grasim Industries shares rose to all-time highs during the session.
Bajaj Finance, Hindustan Unilever, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Consumer Products and Bharti Airtel were the top losers in the NIFTY50 index. As reported by The Economic Times, Jubilant FoodWorks shares fell as much as 8.04% to hit an intraday low of ₹434.65 after the company reported that same store sales growth for Domino's in FY26 declined to 6.5% from 7.5% in the previous financial year. According to Investing.com, Bajaj Finance fell 1.64% to ₹908, Hindustan Unilever declined 1.40% to ₹2,178.40 and Tech Mahindra was down 1.32% to ₹1,420. Infosys lost 1.56% to settle at ₹1,178.15 during the session.
The overall market breadth remained positive with 1,910 shares ending higher while 1,374 closed lower on the NSE, as reported by The Economic Times. According to Investing.com, rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the India National Stock Exchange by 1,453 to 1,070 and 37 ended unchanged. On the Bombay Stock Exchange, 2,234 rose and 1,632 declined, while 176 ended unchanged. The India VIX, which measures the implied volatility of Nifty 50 options, was down 3.38% to 17.82. Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.89% or ₹40.38 to $4,517.62 a troy ounce, while Crude oil for July delivery rose 1.45% to $99.68 a barrel.
