Consumer and metal stocks dragged Indian equity benchmarks lower on Thursday after two straight sessions of gains, as weak U.S. economic data stoked recession fears in global markets.

Dear Trader… Markets traded dull on the weekly expiry day and ended marginally lower. Weak global cues were weighing on the sentiment from the beginning however continued buying in select heavyweights from banking, energy and capital goods space capped the decline. Meanwhile, the broader indices remained muted and ended flat