The Indian stock market closed in negative territory on Friday, May 18 amid a decline in financial names. In addition, investors kept an eye on earnings reports from several companies, including JK Tyre & Industries и Voltas. Recapping the benchmarks, the Nifty 50 ticked down 0.81% to 10,596.40, while the BSE Sensex eased 0.86% to 34,848.30. By 10:30 GMT, the USD/INR currency pair traded up 0.35% to 68.055, while EUR/INR advanced 0.33% to 80.1874. The 10-year government bond yield stood at 7.799%. As noted above, financial names stood out among the worst performers, with ICICI Bank and Housing Development Finance retreating 2.77% and 0.91%, respectively. Meanwhile, Central Bank of India gained 1.89% after retreating in early trading amid a wider loss in the previous quarter. Notably, the company’s loss expanded to INR 21.14 bn (USD 311.5 mn). Among the underperformers, Voltas plunged 5.22% after releasing weak financial results for the previous quarter. Thus, profit for three months ending in March fell 3.1% y-o-y to INR 1.94 bn (USD 28.58 mn). Notable advancers included JK Tyre & Industries, which added 2.15% to its market cap after reporting higher quarterly profit. According to the company’s report, net profit for the quarter ending on March 31 climbed 63% y-o-y to INR 1.45 bn (USD 21.37 mn). The daily chart shows that the BSE Sensex has broken through the lower end of a rising band, while the Slow Stochastic Oscillator is bear-friendly. As a result, the benchmark still holds downside potential in the short term.