Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], July 16 (ANI): Indian benchmark indices on Wednesday opened flat due to the weakness in Asian markets and cautious investors' sentiment ahead of the corporate earnings and major economic updates on trade discussions.

At the opening of the trading session today, BSE Sensex opened at 82,534.66 levels, down 36.24 points, and the Nifty at National Stock Exchange (NSE) was down 0.80 points from its previous close at 25,196.60.In the initial hour, about 1271 stocks were advancing, the stocks of 818 companies declined, and 171 stocks remained unchanged.

ON NSE, the SBI Life Insurance, Trent, Tech Mahindra, Hero MotoCorp, and Tata Consumer emerged as the major gainers, while the losers were Shriram Finance, Cipla, Hindalco, Reliance Industries, and TCS.

Market analysts have highlighted US President Donald Trump's Pharma tariff announcements and threat of secondary tariffs against certain countries, such as Russia, which will impact oil and energy prices, and will impact the investors' decision in the market going forward.

'India is waiting for a US tariff deal. Two issues today are one, Trump saying that pharma tariffs of 200% will come this month, as against his earlier statement of these being 12 to 18 months away. The second is the repeated threat of secondary tariffs of 100 per cent on countries dealing with Russia, especially those importing crude oil from Russia. The deadline for that is a deadline by September 2nd. India cannot disengage with a long-term strategic ally like Russia. These announcements create some market worries,' Ajay Bagga, Market and Banking expert, said. The analysts say that investors are now watching for signs of margin pressures, global demand outlooks, and forward guidance from corporations.

Akshay Chinchalkar, Head of Research, Axis Securities, added, 'The Nifty rose 113 points to 25196 - this was the index's first gain in five days. Technically speaking, yesterday's candle has confirmed an important swing low at 25,000 and if we close above 25245 today, that will fan further optimism, but until that happens, caution is advised. We also need to note that at least one daily close above 25340 is necessary for bulls to be back in play. Support now sits between 24940 and 25000. Asian cues are flat, while US index futures were down about 0.2 per cent.'

Indian benchmark indices snapped a four-day losing streak and ended higher yesterday, led by a recovery in the Auto and BFSI sectors. Broader markets outperformed, with the Midcap/Smallcap indices gaining 0.8 per cent and 1.0 per cent, respectively. The market breadth was quite healthy with a 2:1 Advance: Decline ratio, as noted by SBI Securities. (ANI)