Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended Thursday’s trading session in deep red, ahead of India’s GDP growth data for the latest July-September 2024 quarter (Q2 FY25) to be released on Friday. The GDP is expected to slow to 6.2-6.9 per cent this quarter due to factors like heavy rains and weak corporate margins. After making a cautious start, soon index traded flat with positive bias, as traders took some support with exchange data showing that Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) infused Rs 7.78 crore in the capital markets on a net basis on Wednesday.
However, index slipped into deep red in late morning session, as investors paid no heed towards India Ratings and Research’s (Ind-Ra) statement that the government will be able to register the fiscal deficit at 4.75 per cent in FY25, 0.19 per cent lower than the budget aim, by reigning in expenditure. It added the revenue expenditure, excluding subsidies, will be 0.12 per cent of GDP, lower than the budget estimate. The street also overlooked the Network Readiness Index 2024 (NRI 2024) report showing that India has improved its position by eleven slots and is now placed at 49th rank as against 60th rank scored in the NRI 2023 report. Finally, index ended near day’s low point with losses of 360.75 points.
