Indian Shares Give Up Early Gains; IT Stocks Rebound

(RTTNews) - Indian shares gave up early gains to end lower on Tuesday as U.S.-Iran peace talks gained momentum amid Hormuz tensions.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he has postponed a planned attack on Iran at the request of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

At the same time, Trump warned the U.S. military has been instructed to go forward with a full, large-scale assault on Iran in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the country was not backing down under pressure and that dialogue doesn't mean surrender.

Oil prices eased from two-week highs but remained at elevated levels amid continued Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it hit groups in Baneh allegedly linked to the U.S. and Israel, seizing a shipment of American weapons and ammunition. Elevated global bond yields on expectations of Federal Reserve rate hikes later this year and a weakening rupee, which hit a record low of 96.47 against the dollar, also kept investors on edge.

The benchmark BSE Sensex reversed early gains to end the session down 114.19 points, or 0.15 percent, at 75,200.85.

The NSE Nifty index dropped 31.95 points, or 0.14 percent, to 23,618, while the BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes rose 0.7 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.

The market breadth was strong on the BSE, with 2,588 shares rising while 1,597 shares declined and 167 shares closed unchanged.

Titan Company, UltraTech Cement and Kotak Mahindra Bank fell 2-3 percent while BEL, Hindustan Unilever, Reliance Industries, Indigo, Adani Ports, Sun Pharma and Bharti Airtel all fell around 1 percent.

IT stocks bucked the weak trend, with TCS, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies and Infosys surging 2-5 percent as sector valuations neared 2008 levels.