Nifty and Sensex Trade Flat as Investors Eye Pakistan Peace Talks to End US-Iran Port Blockade
1 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Apr 21, 2026 09:30 AM IST
India’s equity benchmarks opened little changed on Tuesday, as investors assessed the prospects of peace talks between the United States and Iran alongside domestic quarterly earnings.
The Nifty 50 was up 0.04% to 24,374.55, and the BSE Sensex added 0.12% to 78,617.16, as of 09:15 a.m. IST.
Eleven of the 16 major sectors logged gains at the open. The broader small-caps and mid-caps gained about 0.3% each.
Other Asian markets traded 0.8% higher while crude oil hovered at around $95 a barrel.
Iran is considering attending peace talks with the U.S. in Pakistan, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday, following moves by Islamabad to end a U.S. blockade of Iran’s ports, a significant obstacle to Tehran rejoining peace efforts as the end of a two-week ceasefire approaches.
Among Indian stocks, non-bank lender PNB Housing Finance jumped 4.7% after posting a 19% rise in fourth-quarter profit, benefiting from strong home loan demand and an improvement in asset quality.
