- By Aditya Pratap Singh
- Wed, 20 May 2026 09:48 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
Stock Market Today: The domestic stock indices were trading sharply lower in early trade on Wednesday amid weak global cues due to elevated crude prices and rising US bond yields. The BSE's 30-share index--Sensex--plummeted over 650 points in opening trade to a low of 74,529.41 as compared to last day's closing of 75,200.85.
However, the index recovered some of its losses soon amid buying in IT heavyweights. At the time of writing, the Sensex was trading at 74,891.77, down 309.08 points or 0.41 per cent. Nifty50 quoted at 23,525.30, down 92.70 points or 0.39 per cent.
Meanwhile, the rupee declines 20 paise to 96.90--a fresh all-time low--against the US dollar in early trade.
"Globally, stock markets are facing a headwind from rising bond yields. In the U.S., the 10-year yield is at 4.66% and the 30 - year yield has spiked to 5.19%- the highest level in the last 22 years. This is a red flag to equity markets. With risk-free returns at such high levels, the appetite for riskier equity should decline. This is more valid for highly valued AI stocks. But then markets can surprise and, therefore, the correction need not happen at a time when everyone expects," said Dr VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited.
In India, the market headwind comes from macro concerns. In FY 27, GDP growth will be lower at around 6%, and inflation can be higher at about 5.5 per cent. It appears that the market has already discounted this, he added.
Top Losers And Gainers
From the Sensex stocks, BEL, Tata Steel, Eternal, SBIN, Ultratech Cement, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, Hindustan Unilever, PowerGrid, NTPC, Bajaj FinServ, Kotak Bank, Bharti Airtel and HDFC Bank were among the top losers. Infosys, TCS, Indigo, SUN Pharma, Tech Mahindra, and Asian Paint were trading in green.
At the sectoral front, except for Nifty IT, all major sectoral indices were in the red. Nifty Fin Services and Nifty Bank were down 0.5 per cent. Nifty FMCG was down 0.54 per cent. On the other hand, Nifty IT was up 0.57 per cent.