Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended with minor losses on Tuesday. After making a cautious start of the day, soon market spiked up tracking broadly positive cues from global peers. However, index failed to protect its gains and turned negative as traders were worried after government data showed that the growth in production of eight key infrastructure sectors entered a negative zone after three-and-a-half years, contracting 1.8% in August 2024 due to decline in output of coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, cement and electricity. Also, Reserve Bank of India said the country’s current account deficit widened marginally to $9.7 billion or 1.1% of GDP in April-June 2024, as against $8.9 billion or 1% in the year-ago period.
In afternoon session, market altered between positive and negative territories amid weak HSBC India Manufacturing PMI data. The HSBC final India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, compiled by S&P Global, fell to 56.5 last month (September) from 57.5 in August - the weakest since January - and slightly below a preliminary estimate of 56.7. Growth in India's manufacturing industry cooled to an eight-month low in September as solid demand and output eased slightly. In late afternoon session, index continued to trade lackluster as traders avoided to take risk.
