Sensex, Nifty Slip After Positive Start As Tariff Concerns Weigh

After a positive start, Indian shares retreated Tuesday morning, and despite recovering some lost ground subsequently, are currently seen struggling for direction.

Concerns about U.S. tariffs weigh on stocks. U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that Washington would impose a 25% tariff on countries trading with Iran is likely to affect India significantly with India being one of Iran’s largest trading partner.

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.

The benchmark BSE Sensex, which advanced to 84,258.03 in early trades, gaining about 380 points in the process, dropped to 83,578.56 subsequently before recovering to 83,820.33, trimming its loss to just 57.84 points or 0.07%.

The National Stock Exchange’s Nifty50 has recovered to 25,776.25, down 16.75 points or 0.07%. The index had earlier slid to 25,700.85 from an early high of 25,899.80.

Larsen & Toubro is down more than 2%. Indigo is down by about 1.6%, while Trent and Reliance Industries are down 1.3% and 1.1%, respectively.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone, Mahindra & Mahindra and Maruti Suzuki are down 0.3% to 1%.

Eternal is rising nearly 3%. Tech Mahindra is up 1.6% and State Bank of India is gaining 1.1%, while ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Titan Industries and Tata Steel are up 0.5% to 1%.

Tata Consultancy Services is up by about 0.75% despite reporting 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.

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

ONGC is gaining nearly 2%. Hindalco is up 1.4%, while Shriram Finance, JSW Steel and Wipro are up with modest gains.

Indigo, Cipla, Trent, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Jio Financial Services, HDFC Life and Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles are lower by 0.8% to 1.7%.

The market breadth is positive. On BSE, 2,111 stocks are up with gains, and 1,576 stocks are trading lower, while 239 stocks are little changed from previous closing levels.