Mumbai, Jul 17 (PTI) Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty started the day on a firm note on Thursday but later faced selling pressure, with investors remaining in a wait-and-watch mode, as hopes are pinned on a favourable outcome from the US-India trade talks.

Fresh foreign fund outflows also dented investors' sentiment as they preferred staying on the sidelines.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 119.05 points to 82,753.53 in opening trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty went up by 18.7 points to 25,230.75.

However, later the BSE benchmark quoted 71.51 points lower at 82,554.47, and the Nifty traded 30.30 points down at 25,182.55.

From the Sensex firms, Sun Pharma, Tata Motors, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Trent, NTPC and Bharat Electronics were among the gainers.

However, Tech Mahindra declined over 1 per cent after its June quarter earnings failed to cheer investors. IT services firm Tech Mahindra reported a nearly 34 per cent year-on-year increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 1,140.6 crore for the quarter ending June 30, 2025, on the back of growth in communications and financial services verticals.

ICICI Bank, Eternal, State Bank of India and Asian Paints were also among the laggards.

"There are no triggers for the market to break out of the consolidation range in which it has been stuck for two months now. Even an India-US interim trade deal has been discounted by the market, leaving no scope for a sharp rally decisively breaking the range. One positive and surprise factor that can trigger a rally is a tariff rate much below 20 per cent, say 15 per cent, which the market has not discounted. So, watch out for developments on the trade and tariff front," VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

Results of the IT sector continue to disappoint and, therefore, this can remain a drag on the overall market, he added.

In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 index, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng traded in the positive territory while South Korea's Kospi quoted lower.

The US markets ended higher on Wednesday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,858.15 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

"Markets appear to be in a wait-and-watch mode, eyeing a major trigger to scale Nifty’s all-time high of 26,277.35. Hopes are pinned on a favourable outcome from the US-India tariff talks," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.58 per cent to USD 68.92 a barrel.

On Wednesday, the Sensex edged up 63.57 points or 0.08 per cent to settle at 82,634.48. The Nifty ended 16.25 points or 0.06 per cent higher at 25,212.05. PTI SUM SUM DR DR

US-India trade talks drive market caution as foreign fund outflows and weak earnings pressure equity indices. Equity benchmarks reversed from early gains to trade lower as investor caution ahead of US India trade talks combined with fresh foreign institutional selling and disappointing IT sector results to sustain a two month consolidation; tariff expectations were highlighted as the key potential upside trigger and global cues including crude movements were noted as additional influences.