Indian stocks resumed their losing streak in Tuesday’s trade, May 26, as US strikes on Iran dented hopes of an imminent peace deal, triggering a risk-off sentiment across markets. Today’s decline came after the headline indices logged their biggest intraday jump in three weeks amid optimism over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
The Nifty 50 closed 0.5% lower, slipping below the 24,000 mark to settle at 23,916, while the Sensex dropped 0.60% to 76,047.
The broader market, however, remained in an uptrend and outperformed the benchmark indices, with the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 rising 0.54% and 0.35%, respectively.
US forces struck missile launch sites in Iran and targeted boats allegedly attempting to place mines, clouding the outlook for the resumption of oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz. With the status of peace talks between the US and Iran remaining unclear, markets continued to be swayed by geopolitical developments and comments from US President Donald Trump.
On Monday, Trump reiterated in a social media post that talks were “proceeding nicely,” but warned of fresh attacks if negotiations failed. “It will only be a great deal for all, or no deal at all,” he wrote on Truth Social.
While hopes of a potential peace deal remain uncertain, crude oil prices rebound in trade, with benchmark US crude oil rebounding $3.7 to the day’s high of $93.6 per barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was up $3.6 at $97 per barrel after falling nearly 10% on Monday.
The repeated swings between escalation fears and de-escalation hopes have kept crude oil prices highly volatile. In the currency market, the Indian rupee, which had recovered modestly from recent lows, hovered near 95.4 per dollar.
Adani, Tata and metal stocks lead market gainers
Most of the Adani Group stocks ended with solid gains, with Adani Total Gas rallying 8.3% to ₹713.6 apiece. It was followed by Adani Power, Adani Enterprises, Adani Energy Solutions, and Adani Green Energy, all of which closed with gains between 3.7% and 5%.
Keeping its winning momentum intact for the second straight session, Afcons Infrastructure shares jumped another 6.8% to ₹324 apiece, while Cemindia Projects shares also remained firm for the second consecutive day, surging 8% to ₹949 apiece.
Likewise, select Tata Group stocks such as Tejas Networks, Tata Technologies, Tata Communications, Tata Motors, Tata Capital, and Tata Investment Corporation rallied in the range of 2.4% to 6%.
Paytm shares, meanwhile, settled 3% higher, while Ather Energy posted a similar gain. Mid- and small-cap tech stocks such as KPIT Technologies and Oracle Financial Services Software gained over 2%.
Among metal counters, Vedanta, NALCO, SAIL, Lloyds Metals & Energy, Hindustan Copper, and Hindustan Zinc all closed higher by up to 3.5%.
Weak earnings trigger sharp sell-off in select mid-cap counters
Among the top laggards were Techno Electric & Engineering, which crashed 12.5% to ₹1,201 after its Q4 results, while Container Corporation of India also reacted negatively to its March quarter performance, falling 7% to end at a one-month low of ₹475.90 apiece.
Poly Medicure, CarTrade Tech, and Pine Labs all closed with losses ranging between 5% and 7%.
Weaker-than-expected Q4 performance dragged RVNL shares 4.5% lower to ₹139 apiece. Other stocks such as Jubilant Ingrevia, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail, Elecon Engineering, Sai Life Sciences, EID Parry, and Kaynes Technology all tumbled over 3%.
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