Stock Market News: Fuel Price Hike, Crude Oil Eases, Gold & Silver Prices, Auto Stocks | India Today

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:10]You're with us here on business today.

[00:00:11]I'm Abhabakaya. Let's take a look at the top stories at this.

[00:00:16]Fuel getting costlier once again. Petrol up 2.6 L and diesel up 2.7. The fourth hike in 10 days. Weekly increase now stands at 4.3 rupees and 4.5 rupees a liter even as Brent crude hovers near the $100 mark amid ongoing US Iran tensions. As of May 24, OMC's were incurring losses of 38 rupees a liter on diesel and 13 rupees a liter on petrol.

[00:00:47]Oil prices tumble as US Iran talks progress. Brent drops over 5% this week and briefly slips below $100 while WTI falls more than 8%. Hopes of easing Middle East tensions rise after President Trump delayed planned strikes on Iran for negotiations.

[00:01:08]US markets end at record highs. Dow jumps nearly 300 points on Friday for fresh all-time close while S&P logs eighth straight winning week. Treasury yields ease boosting sentiment. Dow futures surged over 300 points in early trade.

[00:01:27]Asian markets rally. Japan's Nikay crosses a historic 65,000 mark for the first time as oil prices slide on hopes of Homo's reopening and progress in Iran talks. Strong global cues signal a gap up start for Indian equities.

[00:01:45]RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra says the rupee is no longer overvalued and may now be undervalued after recent weakness. Despite nearing the hundred per dollar mark, RBI remains confident on India's balance of payments and says it intervenes only to smooth volatility.

[00:02:06]Well, talking about the currency first on your screen and let's uh take a look at the rupee opening this morning. 95.34 to the dollar versus 95.69.

[00:02:16]So, strengthening once again. Gold and silver also gaining an early trade. MCX gold at 600 rupees to 1.59 lakhs per 10 g. And MCX silver surging 4,000 rupees to 2.76 lakhs per kilogram. So, that's the latest. All signals go this morning.

[00:02:32]We're joined by Shelendra Naga and Amish Baliga. Amish, good morning. It sounds like a positive start to Monday.

[00:02:39]>> Yeah, good morning Abha. Yes, I mean looks like a positive start no doubt because I mean all of us are awaiting the sign off of the US Iran accord and I think the nuclear deal could actually like carry on for a while longer but again there can be a slip between the cup and the lip. So that's something which people are also cautious about and I suppose the other issues which are there I think is the petrol diesel price hikes which have been happening. I think finally it should be a 10 to 12 rupee hike already we are close to about 7 and a half we may have one or two more hikes and uh like just uh discussed uh I mean just some time back about the rupee depreciation. So I think all this is going to add to India's inflation and I think uh we we could also in fact see rate hikes then rate cuts going ahead and last but not the least I think monsoons I think these are the I mean things to be watched off for going ahead >> okay so lots of factors at play let's take them one by one we're counting down to market opening uh 200 points in pre-open it's looking good so far 23940 so heading back up uh towards 24,000 Sh let me bring you in on this and first get a look at the overall setup.

[00:03:53]>> Well Abha I am a lot more positive than my very dear friend Amarish. So I'm looking at how the private banking setup will now help in the month of May. Uh we are looking at a good bout of short covering uh that is going to be coming in today and tomorrow uh because of the monthly expiry of the nifty. I am looking at strength as far as the telecom space is concerned. Metals will make a comeback and pharma after being uh you know the sector to really watch in all for the month of May will pause for a bit and more importantly abha the rupee if the RBI governor says that rupee is fairly valued then you can well hope for strength strength in the rupee means a pause in FI selling and that's again positive for the markets >> all right well FIS have been selling in droves and uh you know amish I want to come to you on that because the commentary seems to be incredibly strong that they don't see a letup in that pressure as Shell said maybe if some things change we could see a reversal it is the month of May and traditionally we do see a huge selling pressure at this point uh but what do you see going ahead >> see I'm I'm not bearish let me clarify that uh I'm I'm I'm just uh uh I mean giving out those possible red flags so it will not be a one-way street we could see some corrections in between because of the issues which I had pointed out but overall I mean after the sort of a correction which you have seen especially in the midcap and the small caps although we have seen a good bounce back in the last month month and a half are still I think there's a decent I mean way up because I mean uh like the earnings which we had seen u I think were better than expected although they're mixed they're better than expected so overall uh I mean if you're talking of the next couple of months yes I'm clearly hopeful uh that we should see better days as far as the markets are concerned. We need and and and and again I think we need to see as to how the government and the RBI tackles all these issues which we have on hand but again monoss is something which needs to be washed out for. So okay otherwise I mean like I said overall I'm hopeful and positive on the markets but I think we need to watch out for those I mean all those red flags.

[00:06:15]>> All right. Okay. Okay. So now the rupee under pressure crude volatility at elevated level levels even though we are seeing a cool off today. Now the RBI governor Sanjay Malhotra signal that the currency may actually be undervalued after recent weakness. What does this mean for the outlook on the rupee uh forex markets um investors going ahead let's also bring in uh Nachikit Vijay Kelkar for more on this big RBI message.

[00:06:40]Let me see if Najik is with us. Yes, Najik we're just counting down to opening the rupee in focus of course uh just talk us through the latest commentary uh from uh you know Sanjay Malotra.

[00:06:50]>> So yes uh good morning uh uh what we have seen is the rupee has been falling uh rapidly 6% this year compared to general average of about 4% that it depreciates every year. So what the governor has clearly said is that with this recent depreciation it would be reasonable to think that the rupee is not overvalued. If anything, one could argue that the rupee has become undervalued both in nominal as well as the real effective exchange rate terms.

[00:07:17]So he is very clear that the rupee is not overvalued anymore. One other clear point that the governor has made is that obviously the RBI is not going to target any price or level or band. That is something he has been reiterating for quite some time. So he says uh they will only uh he's been saying they will only uh you know uh protect the rupee in terms of whenever there is higher speculation or lot of volatility in the market the RBI may intervene uh in terms of stabilizing the rupee. So he's reiterated that again. So uh uh that are the clear message that he has sent uh uh to uh the market. see again express confidence in the $700 billion dollar reserves that the RBI has. Remember uh there was a record uh transfer of surplus that was announced last week by RBI to the government as well.

[00:08:10]>> All right, thanks for that. Now let's take a look at the opening uh ticks for you on your screen. Let's pull those up.

[00:08:16]A nice strong start this Monday 23963 on the screen. Solid 1% up on the index.

[00:08:22]Let's pull up some of the key stocks and news as well as where we're seeing some of those gains, the advanced decline ratio. Let's pull up all of that for you and take a look at where the market action is at and um you know some of the key indices it pharma midcap the broader markets clearly some amount of action brewing there. That's really where we've been seeing momentum building up especially from domestic institutions as well in this particular market. Let's pull up metal. Still continue to see some amount of strength coming in on the metal index. Uh we've got uh Pharma up marginally this morning perhaps topping out after all the recent moves but steady. Uh so that's what we're looking at there. Let's take a look at the index gainers for you as well and take a look at what is top of the charts. Aisha of course in focus after steady numbers.

[00:09:06]Eminem following suit. Uh Shriram Finance as well looking good and we've got Bajage Auto, LNT, Bajage Finance, some of the other names topping up the charts for you there. Advanced decline ratio very strong. Uh we've got about 1500 stocks in advances right now. We've got financials on track. Uh you know banking gainers, Canada, HDFC, SBI, ISCICI, all of them up about a percent or so. On the downside, marginal downticks coming in on OGC, Hindalco, TCS are some of those names are where the pressure is coming on, but very very limited. Just a handful of stocks in the red this morning. It's all about banks.

[00:09:41]Shell, you had called it. It's going to be banks and financials this morning.

[00:09:46]>> Yeah, Abha. And I'm very very enthused with the advanced decline ratio. 1,700 stocks in the green versus just 300 in the red. Uh remember three positive developments. RBI governor saying rupee is now undervalued. Very very positive for markets. Rupees already appreciated for the last 3 days. Uh uh oil prices down. This is very very good. And the government has raised fuel prices again very very good. The top gainer Abha is the nifty auto index.

[00:10:21]You should have presumed that uh you know rising fuel prices would have uh uh put it on the back burner but the top gainer is the auto index. The market is reading recovery, recovery and recovery.

[00:10:33]So keep an eye out now on 24,000. If we close above Abha we are going to have a very very strong rally. Remember tomorrow is the week the monthly expiry and across the board you see very very strong gains coming in Indigo uh at the moment the top gainer HFCL II called telecom 6% higher Aisha Motors 5 and a half% higher HTFC bank and ICICI bank in top shape remember keep that ETF that I had pointed out ICICI private bank ETF at about 26 27 rupees it's a steal please also Consult your financial advisor. Abha HPCL 3.4% higher. All good.

[00:11:18]>> Absolutely. I'm just looking at the mix of gainers and what I'm wondering is is momentum back shell because look at the kind of names uh that are moving. Some of the hyra names are also back in action today. Uh we've got uh and we've got or you know the telecom as a play also you had flagged and that's definitely picking up. look at HFCL and the way that that's sort of booming in in today's session. HPCL and the OMC's obviously because of the crude uh prices and the retail fuel price hike. HFC was up 6% Aisha Motors earnings impact you know when you look at these numbers um and we can take them one by one Amish but talking about auto and the numbers that Aisha has reported we've got a show Kland due this week Eminem is up already on sentiment clearly uh it looks like they're still counting on a very very positive uh season coming in >> absolutely because you see I mean if you look at the numbers uh uh like in the past couple of months they've been quite good and it's expected that I mean these numbers will will carry on. Uh I mean despite the fear that there could be some amount of interest rate hike. I don't think it's going to affect uh I mean the auto space as much as it had done in the past because the demand is quite strong.

[00:12:33]>> All right. So demand continuing to be strong there when it comes to auto and on the OMC's. Amish let me get your view as well because you know given the kind of losses they're likely to incur the fuel price hikes. however, to some extent mitigating that. Do you continue to see the OMC's on track?

[00:12:51]>> No, I think it'll take a while for the OMC's to get back on track. I mean, unless you see uh I mean the oil going below 7075 which I think is quite far away. Um I mean despite the accord being signed off in case it it finally gets done. It will take a while for I mean the oil to go below those levels. Uh and till then OMC's would be incurring losses. uh I mean all uh uh I think uh the shortfall even as of now is about 10 to 12 rupees as far as petrol is concerned much higher on diesel and uh I think it'll take a couple of months for them to get back on track but then oil prices starting to correct uh would be sentimentally be positive for the OMC's because of which we are seeing that bounce back >> okay all right so that's on the OMC front shell what else are you picking up let's talk about telecom So without doubt keep an eye out on HFCL, keep an eye out on Tata Communications uh and you know uh stocks like even Vodafone IDEA >> uh as also uh industa it's very simple telecom is not impacted by uh anything that's happening globally it's a pure domestic play and markets are also looking at predictable revenue streams. teams and of course now you have a monopoly going around a dupole that's going around. There's one unlisted player, there's one listed player. So very very strong uh how should I say uh setups as far as telecom is concerned. Therefore uh Tata communications uh uh as also uh HFCL Vodafone Idea please consult your financial advisor if you're looking for Vodafone Idea. Lots of positive changes has happened in vodafon idea for the last uh one month and so and of course industa.

[00:14:48]>> All right. So that's on telecom for you Amish we you know you've you've of course talked about some of the areas to be mindful of going ahead into the next uh couple of months including monsoon uh cost pressures and so forth. So while you're not bearish would you remain cautious? Are there pockets of the market that you feel one could still enter uh for manifold returns or would you just wait and watch right now?

[00:15:11]>> No, no. In fact, I've been buying in in in in the past couple of weeks and I would continue doing that. But yes, surely some interesting pockets. Uh for example, I mean we we're talking of autos but I would be more bullish on auto ancillaries uh because that's where I see uh I mean margin improvements happening. uh and the other space is going to be special chemicals which have been my favorite for the last year year and a half but they not performed but now they have started performing uh so that's I mean like the uh other space where I think you you should be buying as of now because I think the move has just started possibly over the next 18 24 months we could possibly see a few multibaggers there uh telecom surely is the other space because I clearly see the arpoo moving much faster than what they had moved in the past I mean four to five years I think the percentage increase will be much much better uh so that's the other space where I mean I would I would be bullish on a stock like Bharti uh whereas Woodafon idea would be more speculative yes I mean I I think we could see levels of about 16 to 18 for their stock because sentimentally things have been positive the news which has come in the recent past has been positive so these are those couple of sectors where I would be looking to Okay.

[00:16:28]>> Okay. So, telecom even on Amish's list uh Shell clearly that's starting to become one of the flavors of uh of the moment even though there are limited picks in that segment but definitely picking up there. Uh I think it it clearly looks like if you take a look at the broader markets as well, it clearly looks like there is momentum that's intact and we're heading back up above 24,000 as we can see on the screen. All going well. It looks like we're back in back um you know on track. Shell.

[00:16:56]>> Yes, Abha. I'm just waiting for the first 15 minutes to lapse and I'm very hopeful that today's close in the market will be above 24,000. That itself uh is a very very strong signal to uh a lots of option call writers on 24,000 who have been acting as a resistance that will go out for three reasons. One the rupee is appreciating. Two private sector banks ICICI bank and HDFC bank which are uh the highest weighted counters on the nifty are showing signs of good strength. Reliance is showing signs of good strength. So I'm very positive on the markets for Monday and Tuesday. Abha >> all right financials let me get your view and even reliance seems to be cropping up on everyone's radar at least from a technical point of view. I was I was of course observing that it may take some time for it to fully see an unlock.

[00:17:51]Uh but what's your view on an RAIL currently?

[00:17:54]>> No, I mean uh I think it is bottomed out. I mean we have seen a decent amount of consolidation. The earnings were decent. I wouldn't say it was bad. Uh and I think the only issue is that the IPO for Jio could be a bit delayed. uh I mean unless the market really bounces back very well, stays at those levels uh for a I mean like slightly longer time.

[00:18:16]So I think uh the IPO could get delayed by another possibly 9 months to 10 months from now. Uh so I think that's the only thing which which has been worrying the investors as far as Reliance is concerned. But I mean if you're talking of longer term I would I would be like bullish on Reliance no doubt. Uh but then uh I think overall uh like I said I think it's time to do some amount of stock picking at this point of time.

[00:18:43]>> All right, some great views coming in this morning across sectors and stocks to keep an eye on as we start to see a buildup in momentum. We'll leave it there for now. We'll be back with you at market closing at 3 p.m. Thank you gentlemen and thanks for watching.