Key Indian stock indices locked in moderate gains on Wednesday, September 4 as local equities traded in sync with Asian markets, which rebounded on the back of positive macro data out of China. Specifically, the country’s Caixin services PMI for August increased to 52.1 from 51.6 in the previous month. However, any further upside was capped by other macro data that came out stateside yesterday. Notably, the ISM manufacturing PMI fell from 51.2 to 49.1 in August, dropping below the key 50 threshold for the first time since 2016. Investor concerns about Brexit-related uncertainty and a lack of progress in the US-China trade talks added to overall pressure. By the close, the Nifty 50 rose 0.43% to 10,844.65, and the BSE Sensex was 0.44% higher at 36,724.74. The USD/INR pair weakened 0.14% to 72.061. The 10-year Indian government bond yield widened 0.20% to 6.529%. In the blue-chip universe, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel and SBI climbed over 2%, while Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, Maruti Suzuki shed over 2%. Banking names also outperformed, with the Nifty Bank closing up 1.1%. In particular, HDFC Bank and State Bank of India gained 1.7% and 2.5%, respectively. From a technical standpoint, the daily chart shows that the BSE Sensex continues to hover within a descending band, while holding short-term downside potential.