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It was another weak session for the Indian stock market, as key indices remained lower for the third straight day on Wednesday, January 7, with investor sentiment staying fragile amid mixed global cues and fresh tariff-related concerns, keeping the overall market subdued.

Both key averages opened the session lower, tracking losses in key Asian markets, and the sell-off deepened during the first half of the trade. However, a sharp rally in tech stocks supported the indices, eventually leading to minor losses.

The Nifty 50 shed 0.13% to settle at 26,143, while the S&P BSE Sensex closed at 84,944, a 0.14% drop from the previous close.

The broader markets, however, closed with healthy gains, with both the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices rallying 0.45% and 0.39%, respectively, indicating that the market undertone still favors bulls.

Sectoral performance was mixed, with Nifty IT, Nifty Consumer Durables, Nifty Chemicals, and Nifty Pharma all closing with gains between 0.60% and 1.9%. On the flip side, Nifty Auto, Nifty Oil & Gas, Nifty Realty, and Nifty PSU Bank closed lower, with losses ranging from 0.3% to 0.80%.

Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump warned of higher tariffs on Indian exports if India does not halt purchases of Russian oil. The US imposed on India an initial 25%, and then an additional 25% tariff due to Russian oil purchases, which Washington sees as helping to fund Russia's war with Ukraine.

Reliance Infrastructure was the top laggard among the Nifty 500 constituents today, as the stock dropped another 5% to ₹156.3 apiece. Cipla was also down 4% to ₹1,467 apiece after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released details of its observations on Pharmathen International, noting multiple compliance gaps at Pharmathen's facilities, CNBC TV-18 reported.

After a prolonged rally, Ola Electric shares came under selling pressure, falling 3% to ₹42.31 apiece, as investors appeared to lock in gains. Select metal and auto stocks also came under profit-taking, with Maruti Suzuki India, Hindustan Copper, and Hindustan Zinc falling 2.8%, 2.5%, and 2.3%, respectively.

Meanwhile, stocks from the auto-ancillary pack, including Craftsman Automation, Jyoti CNC Automation, and Motherson Sumi Wiring, all fell over 2%.

Other top laggards from the Nifty 500 pack included Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services, Cholamandalam Finance, Prestige Estates Projects, BASF India, ICICI Lombard General Insurance, Gravita India, SBI Cards and Payments, Kirloskar Oil Engines, Jubilant Ingrevia, and TBO Tek, all falling between 2% and 3%.

(more to come)

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