Asian Markets Trade Lower Tracking A Mixed Close On Wall Street; Muted Start On D-Street Today?

Added: 2026-05-20

[00:00:07]Welcome back. Let's set you up for the day's trade and our research team is here with the trade setup and the stocks that should be on your radar today.

[00:00:14]First up, Sonal is here to get us all the market cues that we need to watch out for. Sonal, good morning. It's been an action-packed morning already. What are the market cues that you're watching out for today?

[00:00:25]Action-packed and how? And uh before we talk about what the action has been, uh let's start do a recap of what happened with our own markets yesterday. Closed below 23,400 on the Nifty. It's the fourth consecutive day of fall that we saw uh for our own markets and the steepest single day fall in the current financial year for Nifty. Uh VIX ended above the 19 mark. Rupee weakened to a fresh low of 95.62.

[00:00:48]Uh the CPI or the retail inflation figures came out and came in at 3.48% versus 3.40% month-on-month. Uh so there was some impact on a month-on-month basis. Uh the net buying from DIs continued to the tune of 8,000 crore rupees. FIIs net sold again at around 2,000 crore rupees, but the selling figure was lower if we compare it uh to Monday. Uh the big talking point has to be the import duty hike on gold, silver, and precious metals that has come by from the government. Effectively increases from 6 to 15% and this is just the start of some of the uh you know things that would come by in order to ensure that uh the current account deficit is under control and the rupee continues uh to be at these levels or at least appreciates from these levels. So we'll watch out for whether there is another measure being taken with respect to say fuel price hike or even uh liberalization remittance scheme. Something to be done with that as well. Nifty now is placed below its 10, 20, 50, 100, and 200 DMA. The support is at 23,100, resistance at 23,800. Gift Nifty is indicating a gap down start. We have crude oil prices which have surged again. Even in US markets, inflation came in at 3.8% in April, highest since May 2023. All eyes now on Trump-Xi meeting this week. And of course, the the markets, those are indications will come up here on the screen. Even the US markets quite mixed as far as yesterday's trade is concerned.

[00:02:13]Sonal, thank you for setting that up for us. Now, Upasana is here with the stocks that should be on your radar today.

[00:02:18]Upasana, good morning. Good morning.

[00:02:20]First up, let me start with Berger Paints. Overall, it's been a good quarter for the company. The It reports double-digit volume growth and revenue has also seen an uptick of 6% on Y-on-Y basis and EBITDA margins have seen an expansion of nearly about 100 basis points at 16.8%.

[00:02:35]Tata Power is the next one on our radar.

[00:02:38]It has been a subdued set for the company. Revenue down 12.8% below estimates, EBITDA margin at 17.4, and net profit also down 4 and 1/2%. Torrent Power, revenue down nearly about 1%.

[00:02:52]Margins stood at 17.9 with an uptick of about 40 basis points. Net profit overall is down 70% here. Next up is Dixon Tech. Q4 is largely in line with our poll. The revenue has seen an uptick of 2%, largely in line. EBITDA margin is slightly higher at 3.9% versus the poll of 3.6% and adjust adjusted PAT up nearly about 21%. Next up is Dr. Reddy's. The decline that was seen in It was a weak set and the decline was largely due to lower linear side, that is revenue limit generic sales, and the revenue has seen a downtick of 12% and PAT has seen a downtick of 86% on year-on-year basis. Emcure Pharma Tech is the next one. Overall, it has been a good performance for the by the company.

[00:03:39]Revenue has seen an uptick of 67% on the back of the strong execution. Margins have seen sharp uptick of 154 basis points to 20% and EBITDA has seen an uptick of 81% taking the net profit up three times.

[00:03:55]Next up is Texmaco Rail. It's been a good quarter for the company. Revenue down 13% but the company forays into defense manufacturing and also collapse with Sigma and also bags and 4,000 crore export order. So all in all these stocks will be in the radar today.

[00:04:10]Pusna, thank you for those updates there. Lastly, Sudarshan is here with cues from the FNO space. Sudarshan, good morning. Well, 800 points gone in the last two trading sessions but where is the potential support that's emerging now according to the FNO data?

[00:04:26]So as you have said, the major down tick that you have seen in the market for the last few days or say last two days and that's mainly if you take a look at the FNO data, it was another day of major call writing. Anything about 23,500 we have seen aggressive call writing to as high as 24,100 and that's the reason next support for the market comes around 23,000 and if you fail to hold that, next support comes around 22,800.

[00:04:52]If you go by the indicators, the major indicators, crude remains elevated still around Brent still around dollar 107 per barrel. Rupee again has hit the record low. Yesterday hit the low of 95.74.

[00:05:04]Closed also at the closing record closing low. But if one silver lining can talk about is your put call ratio.

[00:05:11]Now it has gone into the zone 0.70. From there if there is any positive news, we can see a minor short covering. Talking about FI's flows again, they continue to remain sellers both in the index futures and the stock futures and if you take a look on the additions short side additions, it's at multi-month highs.

[00:05:29]They have added short positions of more than 16,000 contracts. Now long's exposure has reduced to 11% and short side exposure has increased to 89%. Come to the options data on the put side.

[00:05:40]23,000 22,800 were the most active where we have seen maximum increase in the open interest and also increase in the premium while on the call side, the maximum addition was seen at 23,500.

[00:05:51]So, support for Nifty, first support 23,000, next support comes around 22,800.

[00:05:57]First resistance 23,500, next resistance or say buying returning in the market will only happen once we cross 23,800.

[00:06:04]One stock remains the ban, sale. Keep an eye on jewelry company, customs duty has been increased on gold, silver, and platinum. Vodafone Idea has been in the focus for the last few days and yesterday the board has an Company has announced that board will consider in fund raising via equity issuance or warrant. And lastly, Dixon, fresh shots have has been added for the last few days, but the earnings are better than expectations. It'll be interesting to see if there is any short covering here in Dixon Technologies. Sudarshan, thank you for that update there. And from stocks to commodities, Manisha Gupta is here with all of those updates. Manisha, good morning.

[00:06:38]Morning and thank you for that. Well, most of the commodities really seem to be holding on to their gains. Crude oil prices, for example, are holding up above 107. The prolonged conflict in Middle East and continued closure of Strait of Hormuz continues to add that geopolitical premium. And then the markets have a new thing to watch out for, and that clearly is a 2-to-3-day meeting that the US and China presidents would be holding. It starts today, that is 13th of May, continues until 15th of May. That is the time period that the US president is visiting China for. And any statements, developments, common agenda would clearly move the markets therein. But you also have seen gains continue for the gold and silver prices. Gold is holding above $4,700 an ounce. Higher energy costs have finally started showing its way into the US inflation, which accelerated more than expected for the month of April to 3.8%, which is the highest since May 2023.

[00:07:30]While the markets, of course, are looking at a possibility of no rate cut this year, but it is the overall demand from central banks and ETFs, which is keeping gold and silver both in good favor. And finally, copper should be on your screens because we're looking at all-time highs in the US markets. There in there of course have been concerns about shortage of sulfur and sulfuric acid from Middle East. That is what is used for mining and smelting. And with that availability not coming in not from Middle East and China and Russia curbs as well. Copper clearly on its way higher. So while LME hasn't hit a record high, US copper already trading at all-time highs.

[00:08:07]Interesting. But Manisha, the big update that has come in this morning is about the government increasing customs duty on gold and silver. Tell us more on that.

[00:08:16]Oh well, absolutely almost. We've been talking about that since morning today.

[00:08:19]Gold, silver, platinum, jewelry components, all of this has seen a rate hike or import duty hike. Earlier was 6%. Now we stand at 15%. So 5% was a duty which has gone up to 10%. The cess increase has been much higher from 1 to 5% and that brings us to nearly 15% of a total duty. Now this is with immediate effect starting today, 13th of May. So you will be looking at gold prices at its opening itself expensive by 12 lakhs a kg. Silver would be expensive by 22,000 rupees a kg just by the way of calculation. And the international markets also have seen a bit of a gain coming in for the gold prices. So what you will see today is that MCX will open higher. The spot and physical markets would be higher. The ETFs perhaps would immediately have an impact as well because everything would start you know calculating in weaving in this import duty that we have seen. That is what the street will look at. The other thing important is of course comes after the PM appeal to India to not buy gold for 1 year and then a subsequent measure or an action on that as well. But the street does believe that give it a month or two and then you would of course have the wedding season and imports perhaps would increase yet again.

[00:09:30]Manisha, thank you for both of those updates there from the commodity space and of course the big news coming in from this morning with regards to the customs duty hike on gold and silver imports. Let's also now listen into what the chief economic advisor had to say on the current account deficit and the fiscal deficit picture due to the continuing West Asia conflict.

[00:09:49]The net FDI side, I think, you know, we were a victim of our own success in having a very deep equity market with a very healthy IPO pipeline. So, many PE VC investors found it easier to exit from India to compensate for their inability to exit from other markets.

[00:10:05]But, nonetheless, I think this is a challenge for this year because the current account deficit could widen from less than 1% of GDP to anywhere near 2 2% of GDP, uh which we have to finance.

[00:10:17]And that means we have to make ourselves always attractive for investment in general, both domestic and foreign. And and that is something we need to do it in order to also attain future strategic leverage.

[00:10:30]I'll take a short break, get you all the updates from the world of AI on the other side. Stay tuned.

[00:10:53]The Indian government increases customs duty on gold and silver. The total gold and silver import duty now stands at 15% from 6% earlier. This is the first move by the government since the prime minister urged citizens to not purchase gold for 1 year earlier this week.

[00:11:12]US President Donald Trump departs for Beijing to meet with China's President Xi Jinping even as tensions with Iran loom large. Trump says that he will have talks about Iran with the Chinese leader, but Washington doesn't need China to reach a settlement with Iran.

[00:11:27][music] Stocks on Wall Street closed mixed as a hotter than expected inflation data and an increasingly tenuous US Iran ceasefire prompt investors to take money off the table. Markets in Asia have opened with cuts but are now trading higher. The gift Nifty is also indicating a positive start for our own markets.

[00:11:47]Oil prices remain above the $107 a barrel mark as the prolonged conflict in West Asia and the continued near closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz tighten global energy supplies. Gold faces downward pressure after a stronger than expected inflation print.

[00:12:04]And in key results today, Bharti Airtel is expected to report an uneventful quarter owing to no tariff hikes. Cipla is expected to report flat revenue growth and a decline in its profitability. Watch out for numbers from Tata Motors today.

[00:12:21]Good morning. You're watching Power Breakfast right here on CNBC TV18 in the Mumbai Newscenter. I'm Hormazd Fataquia.

[00:12:26]It's been a an action-packed morning already, but we'll get you more on that as the show goes by. Let's take a look at how the Asian markets have started off this morning. They opened lower after the price action seen on Wall Street last evening, but it's a mixed picture as of now. The Taiwanese index is underperforming. Yes, down a percent and a half. Unsurprisingly so because it was the chip stocks that sold off on Wall Street last evening as well. The Hang Seng is trading absolutely flat.

[00:12:55]The business as usual for the Kospi now in South Korea after yesterday's volatility. The index is up again outperforming most of its peers in the Asia Pacific. The Nikkei in Japan also trading 4/10 of a percent higher.

[00:13:08]Well, most of the others are trading at or below the flat line. So, the Taiwanese index is the underperformer.

[00:13:14]The Kospi is the outperformer. Most of the other indices are consolidating this morning. Pull up the gift Nifty and after a four-day sell-off after which the index is down almost 1,000 points during this four-day period, 800 of which have come in just the last two trading sessions. The implied open is suggesting another 40 odd point down tick for the start of today's trading session. Of course, this is the session between the two expiries, the one for the Nifty that happened yesterday and one for the Sensex that will happen tomorrow. But for now, the implied open is suggesting a marginally lower start as well. Now, on to updates from West Asia, US President Donald Trump has maintained that the US will achieve victory in the war whether diplomatically or militarily and dismissed the idea that Washington needs China to reach a settlement. His statements came as he departed for China for a two-day visit to meet with his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping. The leaders of the world's two largest economies will hold their first face-to-face talks in more than six months as they try to stabilize ties strained by the trade war, the US and Israeli war with Iran and other areas of disagreement. Trump said that Iran would be a part of his a long part of his conversation with uh Xi Jinping, but later added that the two leaders wouldn't have to discuss Iran since the US has Iran under control. Listen to his comments.

[00:14:35]Well, I think number one, we're going to have a long talk about it.

[00:14:38]Uh I think he's been relatively good to be honest with you.

[00:14:42]You look at the blockade, no problems.

[00:14:45]Uh they get a lot of their oil from that area. We've had no problem and he's been a a friend of mine. He's been somebody that we get along with.

[00:14:53]And uh I think you're going to see that uh good things are going to happen. This is going to be a very exciting trip. A lot of good things are going to happen.

[00:15:00]>> Mr. President, Do you think he needs to intervene at all with the Iranians? Do you think he can help in any way?

[00:15:06]>> No, I don't think we need any help with Iran. We'll win it one way or the other.

[00:15:10]We'll win it We'll win it peacefully or otherwise. We have a lot of things to discuss. Uh I I wouldn't say Iran is one of them, to be honest with you, because we have Iran very much under control.

[00:15:23]Meanwhile, on the heels of an inflation report showing consumer prices jumping 3.8% over the past year in April, the US president said that his policies weren't to blame for the problem. Listen in.

[00:15:34]Policies are working incredibly. If you go back to just before the war, for the last 3 months, inflation was at 1.7%.

[00:15:42]And as soon as this war is over, which will not be long, you're going to see oil prices drop, and you're going to see a stock market, which is already at the highest point in history, go through the roof. You're going to see the golden age of America, frankly, and you're seeing it now.

[00:16:00]So, as soon as this is uh don't forget, you have hundreds of ships that are loaded up with oil that want to come out. As soon as they come out, we're going to have a gusher of oil. Our inflation is just short-term.

[00:16:12]Cuz if you go from before, just before the war, we were for the last 3 months 1.7%.

[00:16:20]Now, there was a mixed session on Wall Street after inflation for the month of April jumped to the highest level in 3 years. CNBC's Julia Boorstin gets us a wrap of all the action on Wall Street.

[00:16:31]US markets were mixed across the major indexes in Tuesday trading after the latest inflation reading came in higher than expected. The Dow gained 56, the S&P 500 was down 12, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 186 points. Prices for a wide range of goods and services rose faster than expected in April as high energy prices from the Iran war had a big impact on the US economy. According to the Labor Department Tuesday, the Consumer Price Index rose to 3.8% on an annual basis, the biggest increase in 3 years. And the Senate on Tuesday confirmed Kevin Warsh to become a Fed governor, clearing a key vote that puts him on the Central Bank's board. The Senate voted largely on party lines with Democrat John Fetterman joining Republicans. Next up, the vote to become chairman and replace Jerome Powell. That vote is expected as soon as Wednesday.

[00:17:21]That's what's happening here in the US.

[00:17:22]Back to you in Mumbai.

[00:17:25]Julia Boorstin, thank you for that update there. Let's now listen in to experts on the inflation print and the outlook for the market going forward.

[00:17:32]People are looking through the inflation, Morgan. We know that this is a a temporary move. We don't want to use the other T word, but we know that. The market sees it that way. All the inflation expectation data, whether it's TIPS market or survey data, suggests that. The yield curve suggests that. Any measure of term premium suggests that.

[00:17:50]So, we know what it is. And I think we're going to be talking about a lot of lower oil prices by the end of the year and possibly even earlier, especially things like sanctions across different jurisdictions, not just Iran, but possibly Venezuela and even Russia and Ukraine, start to become the focus as we get through into the summer months. So, I I don't think the market's getting hot and bothered about a big headline move.

[00:18:16]Well, it's increasingly broad-based. I mean, obviously the energy prices that are up and that's flowing through in terms of air fares, and you're starting to see it in terms of grocery prices because of the cost of transporting food from the port or the farm to the store shelf.

[00:18:31]But, you you're right. It does feel like the inflationary effects are broadening out and will impact prices more broadly.

[00:18:39]Core good inflation was up strongly as well, and it's not just about the war in Iran and higher energy prices, but it's also about the tariff and the pass-through there that continues. So, yeah, inflation obviously is high and the direction of travel feels disconcerting.

[00:18:56]Take us a break. Set you up for our own trading session on the other side. Stay tuned.

[00:19:28]>> Welcome back on to the latest from the world of AI. Rachna is here with that wrap, Rachna.

[00:19:32]Well, starting with Anthropic's Mythos model that has sent Wall Street banks into emergency mode. JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley all have access to Mythos under Project Last Wing. Now, Mythos change lower risk vulnerabilities into high severity exploits, forcing banks to patch flows in days that previously took weeks. Then there's Google that's embedding AI across every Android device just weeks before Apple's own AI reboot at WWDC. Gemini intelligence will handle cross-app automation, multi-step tasks rolling out first on Samsung Galaxy S26, and then on Google Pixel 10. Then there's OpenAI CEO Sam Altman who took the stand today in Elon Musk's federal lawsuit in Oakland. Musk's lawyer asked if Altman was completely trustworthy.

[00:20:23]Altman said he believes he is. He was then pressed on accusations of dishonesty from former board members and asked about his brief ouster as CEO in 2023. Altman called it an incredible betrayal, saying he was completely caught off guard. Then there's SoftBank that has injected $457 million into Graphcore, the UK AI chip company it acquired in 2024. The funding is just a portion of what SoftBank plans this year. Anthropic is also pushing into the legal sector with 12 new plugins and 20-plus MCP connectors linking Claude to legal software including Thomson Reuters, DocuSign, and Harvey. Now, tools covered deposition prep, drafting, and case law research, pretty much everything a junior lawyer would do. And a Facebook post has now rattled Korean markets. Presidential policy chief Kim Yong-Bom floated a citizen dividend using excess AI tax revenue to redistribute gains to the public. The presidential office called the remarks his personal opinion, but the stakes Samsung is forecast to post $220 billion in operating profit this year, second only to Nvidia globally.

[00:21:33]Even the Even KOSPI took a beating after these remarks before a partial recovery.

[00:21:38]That's all from the world of AI. Well, that was interesting, that development that took place yesterday, the development, the subsequent fall, and then the recovery, of course, and the clarification came in that it was just his personal opinion. Take your leave on this edition of Power Breakfast from me and the team. Thank you so much for watching. Bazaarmorningcall on the other side sets you up for the day's trade.