India’s BSE Sensex pared early gains to close about 0.2% up at 77,185 on Wednesday, recovering part of prior session's losses, as investors engaged in profit-booking amid persistent Middle East tensions and higher oil prices. The earlier rally was underpinned by banks and financial stocks ahead of key earnings, with cooler-than-expected US inflation data also lifting sentiment by easing concerns over a more aggressive Federal Reserve. SBIN, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank added between 0.6% and 1.5%. Meanwhile, Eternal (3.1%) and UltraTech Cement (2.8%) topped the gainers, alongside IndiGo, Asian Paints and Tech Mahindra, all adding more than 1% each. Power Grid was the biggest laggard, falling 1.7%, followed by Larsen & Toubro (-1.7%), Tata Steel (-1.7%), Infosys (-1.4%), NTPC (-1.1%) and Bajaj Finserv (-1%).