Sensex, Nifty End Marginally Higher In Cautious Trade

(RTTNews) - Indian shares fluctuated before ending little changed on Tuesday as tensions between India and Pakistan threatened to spiral into open armed conflict.

Global cues were mixed due to tariff-related worries and fears of an U.S. economic slowdown.

The White House has confirmed President Trump's plan to reduce tariffs on auto parts for cars made in America following intense lobbying by industrial leaders.

At the same time, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent put the burden for trade progress squarely on China, increasing confusion about the status of talks between the two countries.

China vowed to stand firm and said that concession and retreat will only make the bully more aggressive.

The benchmark 30-share BSE Sensex ended 0.09 percent higher at 80,288.36, giving up some early gains.

The broader NSE Nifty index ended flat with a positive bias at 24,335.95 while the BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes ended up 0.2 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively. The market breadth was weak on the BSE, with 2,102 shares declining while 1,824 shares advanced and 128 shares closed unchanged.

Eternal, Tech Mahindra and Reliance Industries all rose around 2 percent while Kotak Mahindra Bank, NTPC, Power Grid Corp, Sun Pharma and UltraTech Cement fell 1-2 percent.

Tata Group company Trent surged 5.8 percent as Q4 profit beat Street estimates. Ambuja Cements dropped 1.8 percent as it reported a 9 percent decline in consolidated net profit for the fourth quarter.

Defense stocks rallied for the second straight session amid heightened tensions along the India-Pakistan border and ahead of a Union Cabinet meeting on Wednesday to discuss security and strategic issues at length.

Paras Defense and Space Technologies soared 20 percent, Data Patterns (India) jumped nearly 15 percent and Bharat Electronics advanced 4 percent.