Indian equity markets are likely to make a negative start on Wednesday, tracking weak cues from global markets amid escalating tensions in West Asia, surging crude oil prices and growing concerns over tighter monetary policy in the US. However, some support may come from Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), who broke their prolonged selling streak and turned net buyers on September 1, 2026, purchasing equities worth Rs 1,143.38 crore.
Some of the key factors to be watched:
India’s current account deficit widens to $4.2 billion in Q1: The RBI data showed that India’s current account deficit widened to $4.2 billion, or 0.5 per cent of GDP, in the first quarter of the current fiscal year from $3.4 billion, or 0.4 per cent of GDP a year ago.
India is the world's best location to set up data centres: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal held a meeting with stakeholders of the data centre industry and discussed ways to further promote ease of doing business for the sector.
Govt hikes windfall gains tax on petrol, diesel exports: The government has hiked windfall gains tax on export of petrol and diesel, and reduced it marginally on ATF for the next fortnight.
Commerce ministry discusses India-US trade performance with exporters: The report said that the commerce ministry has asked industry and exporters to share their concerns regarding access to the US market so that the issues can be taken up with their American counterparts.
India's engineering R&D revenue may cross $100 billion by 2030: IT industry body Nasscom said that India's engineering research and development (ER&D) sector is projected to surpass $100 billion in revenue by 2030, driven by the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into core engineering workflows.
Global front: The US markets ended lower on Tuesday, dragged by rising bond yields and oil prices that heightened concerns over inflation and interest rate hikes. Asian markets are trading lower on Wednesday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight.
Back home, Indian equity benchmarks ended flat with negative bias on Tuesday as elevated crude oil prices and fresh US-Iran tensions weighed on investor sentiment. Growing expectations that the US Federal Reserve could keep monetary policy tighter for longer also weighed on risk appetite across emerging markets. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 12.99 points or 0.02% to 76,944.28 and the CNX Nifty was down by 24.60 points or 0.10% to 24,055.80.
Some of the important factors in trade:
Gross GST mop-up rises 15% to about Rs 2 lakh crore in August: Gross GST collections rose 14.8 per cent year-on-year to about Rs 2 lakh crore in August, driven by domestic transactions as well as imports.
India manufacturing activity slips to five-year low at 52.8 in August: According to the survey report, the seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) eased from 53.5 in July to 52.8 in August.
El Nino, global uncertainty pose risks to food inflation: The Finance Ministry, in its Monthly Economic Review (MER), has said that an intensifying El Nino, which is expected to peak in late 2026, warrants a cautious outlook on domestic food inflation and agricultural output, including the upcoming rabi crops, particularly wheat and mustard.