Key Indian stock benchmarks landed in negative territory on Thursday, August 3 led by banking names, which retreated on concerns that the country’s central bank is not ready to go ahead with further monetary easing. Notably, the regulator cut the key rate by 0.25% to 6.0%, the lowest mark over the last 6.5 years. As regards market-driving macro data, the services PMI for July decreased to 45.9 from 53.1 in June, hitting a low since September 2013. Recapping the benchmarks, the Nifty 50 dipped 0.67% to 10,013.65, and the BSE Sensex slid 0.74%, settling at 32,237.88. By 10:53 GMT the USD/INR pair firmed 0.02% to 63.686, while the EUR/INR eased 0.10% to 75.3753. The 10-year Indian government bond yield stood at 6.445%. As noted above, banking names outperformed the broader market. Specifically, State Bank of India, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda plunged 2.32%, 3.51%, 6.07% and 3.18%, respectively. Meanwhile, Reliance Communications plummeted 7.6% ahead of a regulatory decision about the merger between its wireless business and Aircel. The session’s top advancers included Indian Oil, which surged 4.58%. On the daily chart below, the BSE Sensex is trading within a rising band and has bounced off its upper end, while the Slow Stochastic Oscillator is still in overbought territory, but about to exit it. As a result, a downturn towards the lower line of the pattern can be expected in the short term.