India's BSE Sensex closed about 0.3% down at 83,628 on Tuesday, halting Monday's gains, amid profit booking, persistent foreign outflows and the expiry of F&O contracts. Investors remained cautious ahead of the US-India trade talks, ongoing Q3 earnings announcements and geopolitical developments. Meanwhile, President Trump said on Monday that countries doing business with Iran will face a 25% tariff on trade with the US, a move that could impact Tehran's major trading partners such as India, China and the UAE. Attention now turns to a key US inflation report that could influence the Fed's next actions. On the earnings front, both TCS and HCL Tech reported on Monday profit declines in the December quarter. Among stocks, Trent led the losses, down 3.7%, followed by Larsen & Toubro, which fell 3.2% after reports that Kuwait may cancel the firm’s oil project tenders worth $8.7 billion. Heavyweights including Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, ITC, and Axis Bank also dragged on the index.