Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended Friday’s trading session in negative terrain with over half- percent cut. After making gap-up opening, soon index slipped into red and extended its losses, as traders were cautious with provisional data from the NSE showing that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold Rs 964.47 crore shares on May 2, 2024. Traders overlooked a private report stating that the stock market reflects India's ascendance as an economic superpower with premium valuations, but challenges remain for inclusive growth.
In afternoon session, index continued to trade in red terrain and remained lower till the end, as some cautiousness also came with Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) latest data showing that India's services exports declined 1.3 per cent in March to $30 billion while imports fell by 2.1 per cent to $16.61 billion. As per RBI's data on India's international trade in services, the trade surplus during March 2024 was $13.4 billion. Both exports and imports of services were in positive zone in the preceding two months.