India's benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty, ended marginally lower for the third session on February 20, dragged lower by financial stocks as global trade tensions weighed on investor sentiment. Concerns over sluggish earnings growth, premium valuations, and uncertainty surrounding U.S. trade policies fueled the sell-off.

Indian markets ended lower for the third straight session on February 20 while Nifty managed to close just above 22,900, led by amid buying across the sectors barring IT and banks. Buying in broader indices also helped to recover intraday losses.

The session opened in the red, mirroring weakness across Asian markets, as investors braced for the inflationary effects of fresh U.S. tariff measures. On February 19, Trump announced plans to impose tariffs of 25 percent or more on auto, pharmaceutical, and semiconductor imports. While South Korea and Japan are among the most exposed in auto exports, India’s extensive pharmaceutical trade with the U.S. faces potential headwinds.

At close, the Sensex was down 203.22 points or 0.27 percent at 75,735.96, and the Nifty was down 19.75 points or 0.09 percent at 22,913.15.

HDFC Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies and Tata Consumer are among major losers on the Nifty, while gainers are Shriram Finance, NTPC, Adani Ports, M&M, Bharat Electronics.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were up 1 percent each.

On the sectoral front, auto, metal, oil & gas, media, power, realty, PSU Bank were up 1-2 percent, while bank index was down 0.5 percent.

More than 150 stocks touched their 52-week low on the BSE, including Natco Pharma, Kirloskar Oil, ITC, Kajaria Ceramic, Cera Sanitary, Birlasoft, Grindwell Norton, among others.