Nifty falls below 24,550 at day’s low: What’s fuelling losses?

Indian equities on the expiry day (May 22, 2025) traded on a weak note, tracking Asian market weakness following a sharp pullback in US equities in the overnight trade. At the time of writing the copy, at around 10 am, Nifty50 index was down 0.76 per cent or 189.6 points at 24,623.85, while the BSE Sensex extended its morning losses and was down 0.8 per cent or 653.37 points at 80,943.26.

Meanwhile, midcaps outperformed headline indices with smallcaps performing better than their headline peers.

US markets tremble amid high fiscal deficit concerns:

US markets in the overnight session, and primarily the tech stocks, bore the brunt as the US rising fiscal deficit looks unsustainable. After a weak close in the previous session, US index futures in Asian trade were mixed with Dow Jones futures in the red, while both the other key index futures traded with tad gains.

Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited said, There is slight risk off in global markets. This is evident from the strength in alternate assets like gold and Bitcoin. The fundamental issue is the high fiscal deficit of the US which the market feels is unsustainable. The weak US 20-year bond auction and the spike in yields of 5-year, 10-year and 30-year bonds indicate the declining confidence in US bonds. In Japan, too, bond yields are rising. 
 

Broad-based sell-off:

Broad based sell-off led to immense gains in the key indices, with the Nifty slipping below 24,550 levels at the day’s low. Sectoral gauges including, auto, FMCG, consumer durables and Oil and Gas traded with a cut of over 1 per cent, while IT followed with a cut of 0.9 per cent.

24,623.85

-189.60 (-0.76%)