Mumbai, January 13, 2026, 16:26 IST — After-hours
- Sensex slips 0.30%; Nifty 50 down 0.22% after a volatile session
- Reliance, L&T among key drags; ONGC and Tech Mahindra lead gainers
- Focus shifts to India-U.S. trade signals and a heavy earnings slate led by Infosys
India’s blue-chip indexes ended lower on Tuesday after a choppy session, with the BSE Sensex closing down 0.30% at 83,627.69 and the NSE Nifty 50 down 0.22% at 25,732.30. The BSE midcap index slipped 0.2% while the smallcap index rose 0.5%.
The pullback came as fresh tariff threats from U.S. President Donald Trump revived trade nerves, even after optimism over India-U.S. trade talks helped the benchmarks rebound 0.4% on Monday. Foreign investors have sold Indian stocks worth $1.72 billion so far in January after a record $19 billion outflow in 2025, Reuters reported. “The absence of decisive follow-through buying has kept the broader market outlook guarded,” Dhupesh Dhameja, derivatives research analyst at SAMCO Securities, said. Reuters
Macro signals stayed mixed. The rupee settled at 90.19 per dollar, marginally weaker on the day, with Reuters reporting likely central bank intervention helped limit losses after the deferral of Indian bonds’ inclusion in a major global index. A day earlier, official data showed retail inflation rose to 1.33% in December but stayed below the RBI’s 2%-6% target band; “the bottom for inflation is now behind us,” Sakshi Gupta, an economist at HDFC Bank, said, after the central bank cut rates by 25 basis points (0.25 percentage point) last month and with its next decision due on Feb. 6. Reuters
Sector moves were uneven. IT, media, PSU banks and metals ended higher, while FMCG, capital goods, consumer durables, pharma and realty fell about 0.3% to 0.5%, according to the Moneycontrol tally.
Among index heavyweights, retail-to-travel names and defensives weighed early before late buying trimmed losses. Trent, Larsen & Toubro and Dr Reddy’s were among the sharpest Nifty decliners, while InterGlobe Aviation and Reliance also dragged.
Energy and select lenders offered support. ONGC ended up 3.30%, while Eternal gained 3.17% and ICICI Bank rose 1.66%, according to Investing.com data.
Reliance dropped 2.1% after the conglomerate said it does not expect any Russian crude deliveries, extending a weak patch for the stock. L&T slid 3.3% after a report said Kuwait was considering cancelling oil project tenders; the company said the projects were not part of its order book.
Eternal, the Zomato parent, was one bright spot as traders pointed to changes in foreign ownership headroom — the cap on overseas holdings — as a near-term trigger, with some positioning for higher weight in MSCI indexes tracked by global funds.
Earnings news kept IT stocks in play. HCLTech beat third-quarter revenue estimates and narrowed its FY2026 growth outlook, while CEO C Vijayakumar said non-essential spending was showing up in areas that enable AI but demand was unlikely to snap back to post-pandemic highs; the company reported $3 billion in new deal bookings and took a one-time charge tied to India’s new labour codes, Reuters said.
But the downside case is not hard to sketch. “This unprecedented, unstable and unpredictable behaviour of the US president will continue to weigh on markets,” VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Investments, said, pointing to tariff threats and headline risk, while investors stay cautious ahead of the Union Budget. Business Today
Traders now turn to earnings and any read-through from the India-U.S. trade call. Infosys is scheduled to announce results for the quarter ended Dec. 31 on Wednesday, Jan. 14, with management comments slated for later in the day.
