Mumbai, Sept. 1 -- The domestic equity benchmarks traded with modest cuts in the mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 24,000 level. Auto shares extended losses for the fifth consecutive trading session.

At 14:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, declined 296.22 points or 0.38% to 76,661.05. The Nifty 50 index lost 124.35 points or 0.52% to 23,956.05.

In the broader market, the BSE 150 MidCap Index fell 1.03% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index shed 0.34%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,533 shares rose and 2,733 shares fell. A total of 221 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

India's HSBC Manufacturing PMI eased to 52.8 in August 2026 from 53.5 in July, revised down from the preliminary estimate of 52.9, marki...