FX.co ★ India Shares Drop for Third Session

India's stock market experienced a decline on Tuesday, with the index dropping 173 points, or 0.2%, to settle at 81,199, while the Nifty 50 slipped below 24,700 during morning trading. This marked the third consecutive session of losses. The decline was primarily driven by weaknesses in the technology, consumer durables, and healthcare sectors, as investors remained wary due to ongoing global tariff issues. The market sentiment was further dampened by new data from China, which showed an unexpected contraction in the country’s factory activity in May, affecting India’s economic outlook given China is its major trading partner. Nonetheless, strong domestic economic data provided some support, fostering optimism about a potential interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India in its forthcoming policy meeting later this week. Early on, significant declines were seen in companies like Larsen & Toubro (-1.2%), Bajaj Finance (-1.0%), and Hindustan Unilever (-0.9%). Additionally, shares in India’s Adani Group dropped between 0.7% and 2% following a report by The Wall Street Journal, indicating a U.S. investigation into whether Adani entities illegally imported Iranian LPG through their Mundra port.