Nifty closed 0.32% higher last week, led mainly by IT stocks, with additional support from energy counters. As domestic markets reopen on Monday after the holiday-shortened break, a host of key events lined up through this week are likely to drive market sentiment.

On Friday, the 50-stock index edged lower by 64.60 points, or 0.27%, to close at 23,719.30.

Stock markets will remain closed on Thursday, May 28, on account of Bakri Eid.

Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities, said Nifty failed to close above the crucial 23,800 resistance level for the second consecutive session despite a positive RSI crossover, indicating lack of strong momentum. The chart shows neither a breakout nor a breakdown visible on the charts with Nifty in an indecisive range-bound trade over the last 4–5 sessions, he said.

“A decisive breakout from this range is essential for the next leg of rally or correction to unfold. On the downside, immediate support is placed at 23,600, below which the index may drift towards 23,400. A breach below 23,400 could trigger a sharper correction in the market. On the higher side, a decisive move above 23,800 may induce a fresh directional upward move in the short term,” De said.

Iran-Israel war
After a long lull, developments on the Iran-US negotiations stalemate, undercurrents are being felt with Iran’s top negotiator and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf ‌meeting ⁠Pakistani ⁠Army Chief Asim Munir in Tehran as part of ongoing diplomatic ⁠efforts over ‌regional tensions, Iranian ⁠state media reported on Saturday.

Munir also held meetings with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in ‌the presence of Foreign Minister Abbas ⁠Araqchi during his visit to Iran.US markets
Frontline indices on Wall Street closed in the green on Friday as treasury yields eased, lifting megacaps and chip stocks, though markets watched for signs of a breakthrough in discussions to end the Middle East war.

While Dow 30 ended at 50,579.70, gaining 294.04 points or 0.58%, the S&P 500 was 0.37% (27.75 points) higher at 7,473.47. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was down by 50.87 points or 0.19%.

Bond yields
With inflation worries resurfacing, global investors are closely tracking movements in the bond market. The yield on the 30-year U.S. Treasury note surged to 5.201% on Wednesday — its highest level since 2007 — amid growing uncertainty over the outcome of the Middle East conflict, which has heightened fears of elevated energy prices and renewed inflationary pressures. The yield was last seen trading at 5.0795%.

Investor sentiment toward equities also weakened globally. U.S. equity funds witnessed outflows of $12.05 billion during the week, marking the second weekly withdrawal in the past three weeks. Asian equity funds too saw net outflows of $570 million, while European funds bucked the trend by attracting net inflows of $4.62 billion. Sectorally, technology funds continued to remain in favour for the seventh straight week, garnering net inflows of $6.94 billion. In contrast, financial and industrial sector funds saw investors pull out $2.8 billion and $1.3 billion, respectively.

Crude oil
Global benchmark crude oil prices will remain an important factor in determining the direction of domestic markets.

The US WTI crude oil futures ended at $97 per barrel on Friday, dropping $0.65 or 0.67% in a single session while Brent witnessed an uptick of 1.63% or $1.67 per barrel to close at $103.54.

FII/DII action
FII outflows have been one of the biggest spoilers of market sentiments and will be tracked when markets resume trading this week.

On Friday, FIIs sold domestic shares to the tune of Rs 4,440.47 crore while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers at Rs 6,003.53 crore.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have offloaded domestic equities worth Rs 2.22 lakh crore in 2026, remaining net sellers for the third successive month-to-date. They have sold shares worth Rs 30,374 crore, so far this month.

Read more: FIIs sell over Rs 30K crore worth of Indian equities in May as outflows swell to Rs 2.22 lakh crore. What lies ahead?

Technical triggers
Nilesh Jain, Vice President – Head of Technical and Derivative Research at Centrum Finverse said Nifty has formed a small bullish candle on the weekly chart. Encouragingly, the index managed to sustain above its 50-DMA, placed near 23,690, which is likely to act as an immediate support level, while the next crucial support is seen around 23,500, he said.

“On the upside, a decisive breakout above 23,800 is essential to trigger a fresh short-covering rally towards 24,000 and higher levels. The broader market structure continues to remain constructive and indicates a positive undertone. Going into the coming week, volatility is expected to remain elevated owing to the monthly F&O expiry. We expect the Nifty to trade within a broader range of 23,500–24,000 with a positive bias. The India VIX declined nearly 5% during the week and closed below the 18 mark. A further cooling-off in volatility would continue to support bullish sentiment in the market,” Jain said.

Rupee Vs dollar
The Indian rupee rallied to close above the 96-per-dollar mark for the first time in a week on Friday, helped by the central bank’s aggressive interventions to arrest the currency’s slide from 94.50 to nearly 97.

The rupee closed at 95.69 per dollar, up 0.5% from its close in the previous ‌session.

The Reserve ⁠Bank of ⁠India sold $2 billion to $3 billion on Thursday and intervened in the markets again on Friday, according to bankers.

Two state-run lenders were consistently selling dollars through Friday’s trading session, three traders told Reuters, adding that this marked a change from relatively subdued and intermittent activity in the earlier part of the week.

“It seems the RBI’s intends to draw some version of a line-in-the-sand for rupee weakness,” ⁠a senior ‌trader at a foreign bank said. The currency had weakened from 94.50 on May 8 to a record low of 96.96 ⁠on May 20.

State-run banks were spotted conducting dollar-rupee buy/sell swaps as well, most likely on behalf of the RBI, the bankers added. Dollar-rupee forward premiums fell as a result, with the 1-year implied yield down 6 basis points at 3.39%.

The central banks’ presence also ensured that the rupee was largely unfazed by a more than 2% rise in Brent crude prices to $105 per barrel on Friday as ‌investors doubted the prospect of a breakthrough in the U.S.-Iran talks.

Stocks in focus
Stocks of oil marketing companies (OMCs) will be in focus after petrol and diesel prices were hiked on Saturday for the third time in less than two weeks. The government said India had absorbed the impact of rising global oil prices for 76 days following the outbreak of the US-Iran conflict.

The cumulative increase is under Rs 5 per litre as on Saturday.

Select stocks will also be in focus because of corporate actions lined-up during the week.

Stocks like Havells India, Trident, LTM, Siyaram Silk Mills, Tata Consumer Products, Tata Consultancy Services, ITC, Torrent Pharmaceuticals, Bajaj Auto, UNO Minda and Bank of India will have record dates for their dividend.

Meanwhile, Zydus Lifesciences, CyberTech Systems and Software and Dhanuka Agritech will have record dates for buyback of shares.

Life Insurance Corporation of India will have a record date on Friday, May 29 for bonus issue.

(Inputs from agencies)

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)

In a recent QuickTake post on CryptoQuant, XWIN Research Japan explains how the rising Japanese bond yields are currently affecting Bitcoin’s price action.

Japanese Gov’t Bonds Face Downturn Amid Macroeconomic Pressures 

According to XWIN Research Japan, yields on Japanese Government Bonds (JGBs) have been rising amid persistent inflationary pressures, expectations of policy normalization, and rising concerns over fiscal expansion. In response, there has been a corresponding fall in bond prices, indicating that Japan’s domestic institutions, e.g., banks, are simultaneously holding through heavy unrealized losses.

With approximately ¥390 trillion (approximately $2.6 trillion USD) currently invested in JGBs, even a modest 1% increase in yields could push tens of trillions of yen worth of holdings into negative territory, amplifying financial strain across the system.

Expectedly, this scenario has exerted significant pressure on institutional investors, forcing adjustments on their balance sheets. According to the crypto research group, risk assets, including Bitcoin, are the easy targets of this “rebalancing” activity. Considering that Japan maintains a large external investment portfolio, any liquidity withdrawal exhibits a signal effect on the market.

Therefore, this chain of rising yields, which leads eventually to liquidity contraction, often affects Bitcoin directly. Notably, historical patterns have suggested that low-rate environments often support price growth or expansions, while increasing rates typically impede the flagship cryptocurrency’s growth.

Stablecoin Supply Surges Toward Record Levels

Furthermore, XWIN Research Japan cites the All Stablecoins (ER20): Total Supply metric to report a significant growth in the available stablecoin supply. According to research analysts, this suggests that there is actually capital waiting on the sidelines. However, this available liquidity is clearly not being introduced into risk markets. 

Hence, it becomes apparent that Bitcoin is currently within a classic environment where liquidity exists, but is yet to be deployed. Interestingly, exchange flows also reveal that about $9.6 billion left the Bitcoin market in early 2026, with capital evidently rotating into stablecoins. These two conditions also contribute to weakened demand, as rising rates already cause demand to taper.

Therefore, until macroeconomic conditions improve, the Bitcoin price might continue to struggle in the long-term, as institutional demand might even then become weaker. As of this writing, Bitcoin is valued at $67,391, reflecting a positive daily shift of 0.76%. On larger time frames, the premier cryptocurrency reports a weekly gain of 1.34% and a monthly loss of 5.47%. With a market cap of $1.34 trillion, Bitcoin remains the world’s 13th largest asset and largest digital asset.

Several companies have consistently rewarded shareholders with healthy dividend payouts over the last three financial years, according to data from SBI Securities. The dividend yield, calculated using closing stock prices as of 31st July 2025, reflects the companies’ commitment to returning value to investors across FY22, FY23, and FY25/24. Here’s the list:

U.S. stocks closed a choppy session little changed on Thursday, erasing initial declines as Treasury yields eased off recent highs after the House of Representatives passed U.S. President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill.

Recent concerns about the U.S. deficit have pushed up Treasury yields and pressured stocks, but longer-dated yields fell on Thursday, allowing stocks to take a breather. The benchmark U.S. 10-year note yield fell 5.4 basis points to 4.543% after hitting its highest since February.

The benchmark S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended flat, while the Nasdaq edged higher. All three major Wall Street indexes had posted their biggest single-day percentage drops in a month on Wednesday as Treasury yields spiked on U.S. debt worries.

The Republican-controlled House voted by a slim margin to pass the bill, which would fulfill many of Trump’s campaign pledges to his political base, but will increase the $36.2 trillion U.S. debt pile by $3.8 trillion over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Investors are also weighing the impact of Trump’s tariffs on U.S. imports, including on consumer prices.

“The problem today was the tax bill, which appears to have passed,” said George Young, partner and portfolio manager at Villere & Co in New Orleans. “But we are thinking about bigger potential problems and the two main things on the table are tariffs and interest rates.” “The market hates uncertainty and we’ve still got this overhang of the tariffs and the bond market, which is totally apolitical and totally international,” Young added. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell just 1.35 points to 41,859.09, the S&P 500 lost merely 2.60 points or 0.04% at 5,842.01 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 53.09 points, or 0.28%, at 18,925.74.

Eight out of 11 S&P 500 subsectors finished lower, led by utilities, healthcare, energy and consumer staples stocks. Consumer discretionary, communication services and technology stocks advanced.

Megacap growth stocks, including Nvidia, Amazon and Tesla, gained. Alphabet was 1.3% firmer after touching a nearly three-month high. Apple ended down 0.36%.

Snowflake jumped more than 13% after the cloud computing firm raised its fiscal 2026 product revenue forecast.

Analog Devices fell 4.6% despite the semiconductor manufacturer beating Wall Street estimates for quarterly results.

Shares of solar energy companies including First Solar dropped as Trump’s tax bill is expected to end a number of green-energy subsidies. First Solar finished down 4.3%.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.17-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 68 new highs and 99 new lows on the NYSE.

The S&P 500 posted four new 52-week highs and nine new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 49 new highs and 109 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 16.09 billion shares, compared with the 17.56 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

European shares opened higher on Wednesday due to broad-based gains as bond yields took a breather ahead of a crucial inflation reading in the United States, while British bourses outperformed following a soft local inflation reading.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.3% as of 0809 GMT, on track to snap a three-day losing streak.

UK’s more domestically focussed midcap index jumped 1.4% after data showed British inflation unexpectedly slowed to an annual rate of 2.5% in December from 2.6% in November, with core measures of inflation falling more sharply.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 was last up 0.7%, outpacing European peers.

Yields on long-dated European government bonds eased a touch, with the yield on the region’s benchmark 10-year bond at 2.602%, on track to snap a 10-day rising streak.

Rate-sensitive real estate was up 1.6%, while utilities, often traded as a bond proxy, added 1%. Later in the day, eyes would be on the December U.S. consumer prices reading, a crucial metric for gauging the Federal Reserve’s rate path as markets remain wary of inflationary risks.

SYDNEY, – Asian shares edged lower on Monday as high Treasury yields challenged lofty Wall Street equity valuations while underpinning the U.S. dollar near multi-month peaks.

Volumes were light with the New Year holiday looming and a rather bare data diary this week. China has the PMI factory surveys out on Tuesday, while the U.S. ISM survey for December is due on Friday.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.2%, but is still 16% higher for the year. Japan’s Nikkei eased 0.2%, but is sitting on gains of 20% for 2024.

South Korea’s main index has not been so fortunate, having run into a storm of political uncertainty in recent weeks, and is saddled with losses of more than 9% for the year. It was last off 0.35%.

S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures were both off 0.1%. Wall Street suffered a broad-based sell off on Friday with no obvious trigger, though volumes were just two-thirds of the daily average. .

The S&P 500 is still up 25% for the year and the Nasdaq 31%, which is stretching valuations when compared to the risk-free return of Treasuries. Investors are counting on earnings per share growth of just over 10% in 2025, versus a 12.47% expected rise in 2024, according to LSEG data. Yet yields on 10-year Treasuries are near eight-month highs at 4.631% and ending the year around 75 basis points above where they started it, even though the Fed delivered 100 basis points of cuts to cash rates. “The continued rise in bond yields, driven by the reassessment of less restrictive monetary policy expectations, creates some concern,” said Quasar Elizundia, a research strategist at broker Pepperstone.

“The possibility that the Fed may keep restrictive monetary policy for longer than expected could temper corporate earnings growth expectations for 2025, which could in turn influence investment decisions.”

Bond investors may also be wary of burgeoning supply as President-elect Donald Trump is promising tax cuts with few concrete proposals for restraining the budget deficit.

Trump is expected to release at least 25 executive orders when he takes office on Jan. 20, covering a range of issues from immigration to energy and crypto policy.

Widening interest rate differentials have kept the U.S. dollar in demand, giving it gains of 6.5% for the year on a basket of major currencies.

The euro has lost more than 5% on the dollar so far in 2024 to last stand at $1.0429, not far from its recent two-year trough of $1.0344.

The dollar held near a five-month top on the yen at 157.71 , with only the risk of Japanese intervention preventing another test of the 160.00 barrier.

The strength of the dollar has been something of a burden for gold prices, though the metal is still 28% higher for the year so far at $2,624 an ounce.

Oil has had a tougher year as concerns about demand, particularly from China, kept a lid on prices and forced OPEC+ to repeatedly extend a deal to limit supplies.

Brent fell 37 cents to $73.80 a barrel, while U.S. crude lost 17 cents to $70.43 per barrel.