Sensex, Nifty Settle Modestly Lower As Investors React To Tariff News, Earnings Updates

(RTTNews) - After a couple of spells in positive territory before noon on Tuesday, key Indian stock indices Sensex and the Nifty50 fell into the red and then stayed weak right the day's session to eventually close with modest losses.

Tariff concerns, some weak earnings announcements, sustained selling by foreign institutional investors, and higher oil prices weighed on stocks.

U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement on Monday that Washington would impose a 25% tariff on countries trading with Iran is likely to affect India significantly as the country is one of Iran's largest trading partners.

The benchmark BSE Sensex ended with a loss of 250.48 points or 0.3% at 83,627.69. The index, which advanced to 84,258.03 in early trades, tumbled to a low of 83,262.79 before recovering some lost ground.

The National Stock Exchange's Nifty50, which dropped to 25,603.30 from a high of 25,899.80, settled at 25,732.30, losing 57.95 points or 0.22%.

Realty and consumer durables stocks were among the notable losers. Technology, PSU banks and media stocks found support.

Trent, down 3.4%, was the biggest loser in the Sensex. Larsen & Toubro shed 3.25% on reports Kuwait is considering cancelling and rebidding oil project tenders worth $8.7 billion,

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries lost 2.1% and Indigo drifted down nearly 2%. Maruti Suzuki, ITC, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone and BEL lost 1 to 1.1%. Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, Hind Unilever and M&M also ended notably lower.

Eternal climbed 3.25%. Tech Mahindra gained 1.75% and ICICI Bank moved up 1.7%. State Bank of India added 1.3%.

Tata Consultancy Services gained nearly 1% despite reporting a drop in third quarter earnings. TCS reported a 14% drop in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended December 2025, compared to its net profit in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

ONGC, up 3.3%, was the top gainer in the Nifty50 index. Hindalco and Max Health gained 1.6% each. Shriram Finance, Apollo Hospitals Enterprises and Wipro posted moderate gains.

HCL Technologies ended with a marginal loss. The company reported an 11% fall in consolidated net profit for the December quarter from the year-ago quarter. The stock is down 0.5%.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories closed lower by 2.2%. Jio Financial Services, Grasim Industries, Cipla and SBI Life also ended notably lower.

Maharashtra Scooters rallied nearly 7% after the company reported a near 25% surge in standalone net profit to Rs 4.12 crore on a 11.22% rise in total income to Rs 6.44 crore in the third quarter, over the year-ago quarter.

Oriental Hotels moved up nearly 3% on strong earnings. The company reported a more than 44% jump in net profit for the quarter ended December 2025, compared to the corresponding quarter a year earlier.

On the economic front, data released by the government after trading hours on Monday showed the consumer price inflation rate in India rose to 1.33% in December from 0.71% in the earlier month. Despite the second consecutive increase, the inflation rate remained sharply below the Reserve Bank of India's tolerance limit of 2%-6%.

India's consumer prices edged up 0.05% month-over-month in December 2025, following a 0.3% increase in November.