Nifty closes marginally lower amid currency & oil related concerns

Broader market underperforms

May 15, 2026

Welcome to Aftermarket Report, a newsletter where we do a quick daily wrap-up of what happened in the markets, both in India and globally.

In our latest episode of In The Money by Zerodha, From the macro forces that shape markets over long periods — interest rates, institutional flows, currency, and commodities — to the structural and regulatory shifts like taxation changes, leverage rules, and derivatives evolution, and finally to what you can observe directly in price, volatility, and market breadth, most market changes fit into one of three broad pillars.

This episode breaks down all three lenses of market regimes and explains why identifying them in real time is far harder than in hindsight — and why that distinction matters deeply for how we trade.

Check out In The Money

Markets Today

Nifty opened with a gap up of 42 points at 23,731, tracking positive overnight global cues. The index saw strong buying in the opening hour, climbing steadily toward the 23,800–23,830 zone and briefly touching the day’s high around 11 AM.

However, the momentum faded sharply after the early rally. Nifty slipped quickly toward the 23,700 mark through the late morning session and remained volatile in a range between 23,700 and 23,750 till 1 PM.

In the second half, around 1:30 PM, selling pressure resurfaced once again, dragging the index steadily lower. Nifty slipped below the 23,700 mark after 2 PM and continued drifting lower toward the 23,610–23,630 zone in the final hour. A brief recovery attempt around 3 PM helped the index bounce toward the 23,675 mark, but the rebound failed to sustain. Nifty eventually closed at 23,643.50.

The session was marked by a strong opening rally followed by persistent profit-booking through the second half, resulting in a weak close near the day’s lows.

Nifty slipped 0.19% to 23,643.5, Bank Nifty cracked 0.77%, and midcaps fell 0.68%. Breadth tilted sharply negative, 177 advances against 322 declines. VIX climbed 0.97% to 18.79, reflecting renewed caution.

Sectoral Indices Performance

Media surged 1.98%, IT jumped 1.3%, and FMCG held on with 0.54%. Everything else bled. Metals reversed yesterday’s 2% rip with a 1.93% drop. PSU Banks and Realty each fell 1.8%.

Winners & Losers

Midcaps underperformed large caps, down 0.68%. Breadth collapsed from yesterday’s 314 advances to just 177 today. The rally that started on May 14 fizzled in one session.

Momentum Screener

Global Markets

Commodities

Crude spiked 2.93% to ₹10,009, reversing the multi-day slide. Gold dropped 1.81%, silver crashed 5.63%, and defensive assets unwinding.

Bond Yields & Currency

India 10Y yield at 7.076%. US 10Y at 4.47%, stable. Rupee slipped 0.1% to 95.86, reacting to the crude surge and renewed FII selling.

FII / DII Flows

Here’s the trend of FII-DII activity from the last 5 days:

Thematic Indices

Tijori’s niche indices, where today’s move sorts pockets of the market beyond standard sector baskets. You can also track the Promoter buying and other interesting stuff, like Capex activity by the companies in the Tijori App’s idea dashboard

Change in OI for the day

The following is the change in OI for Nifty contracts expiring on 19th May:

The maximum Call Open Interest (OI) is observed at 24,000, followed by 23,800, indicating potential resistance at the 23,800 -23,900 levels.
The maximum Put Open Interest (OI) is observed at 23,500, followed by 23,400, suggesting support at 23,500-23,400.

Note: OI is subject to multiple interpretations; however, generally, an increase in Call OI indicates resistance in a falling market, while an increase in Put OI indicates support in a rising market.

Source: Sensibull

Management Chatter

In this section, we highlight interesting comments from the management of major companies and policymakers in the Indian and Global Economies.

V.P. Nandakumar, Chairman & MD of Manappuram Finance, on the segment-wise update:

Across segments, trends remain divergent. While gold loans are largely instrumental to our growth, microfinance is still in a recovery phase with a modest AUM expansion and improvements in asset quality. The housing finance business remains stable. The portfolio growth is muted. - Link

Sudhanshu Vats, MD of Pidilite Industries, on the conflict and Inflation:

Fortunately, for us, we started discussing a possible Iran conflict almost a month before the conflict actually happened. Therefore, we have basically been able to map some of these things out. We have been constantly looking at alternate supplies, if possible, wherever possible. So I think as a company and in this, what we are doing is we basically take this day by day, every day, but more importantly, weekly, monthly, and quarterly.
I think inflation is real on our weighted average raw material basket; inflation is anywhere between 40% to 50%. And therefore, we are looking at that. Here, our strategy is very clear. Our strategy is that we will first pass on the absolute increase in our raw material prices in rupee terms in a calibrated fashion because our focus will remain on growth and disciplined demand generation in the market. - Link