Indian benchmark indices ended the day in red on Tuesday amid fresh trade war fears and expectations of another rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Besides, profit-booking in index heavy-weights like HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, L&T and ICICI Bank contributed to the index fall.

US president Donald Trump said on Monday that the US would restore, with immediate effect, tariffs on all steel and aluminum that are shipped into the US from Brazil and Argentina. He said the countries were indulged in "massive devaluation of their currencies", which was hurting US farmers.

The 30-share benchmark index ended at 40675.45 down by -126.72 points or by -0.31 % and then NSE Nifty was at 11994.2 down by -54 points or by -0.45 %.

During the day's trade, Sensex touched intraday high of 40885.03 and intraday low of 40554.04 The NSE Nifty touched intraday high of 12068.6 and intraday low of 11956.4

The top gainers of the BSE Sensex pack were Bajaj Auto Ltd. (Rs. 3261.35,+3.20%), Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (Rs. 2050.40,+1.46%), Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. (Rs. 1646.45,+0.82%), Infosys Ltd. (Rs. 698.35,+0.79%), Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd. (Rs. 2320.40,+0.60%), among others.

The top losers of the BSE Sensex pack were YES Bank Ltd. (Rs. 59.50,-7.10%), Tata Steel Ltd. (Rs. 399.45,-5.07%), Tata Motors Ltd. (Rs. 66.75,-4.51%), Vedanta Ltd. (Rs. 139.70,-3.42%), Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (Rs. 522.85,-2.13%), among others.

Among the sectors, Realty index was at 2188.79 up by 29.33 points or by 1.36%. Prestige Estates Projects Ltd. (Rs. 352.00,+9.05%), Housing Development & Infrastructure Ltd. (Rs. 4.02,+4.96%), Oberoi Realty Ltd. (Rs. 533.80,+4.00%), Godrej Industries Ltd. (Rs. 906.60,+1.68%), Sunteck Realty Ltd. (Rs. 397.95,+0.61%),.

On the flip side, Metal index was at 9547.41 down by -261.94 points or by -2.67%. Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. (Rs. 149.55,-6.18%), Tata Steel Ltd. (Rs. 399.45,-5.07%), JSW Steel Ltd. (Rs. 256.95,-4.27%), Steel Authority of India (SAIL) Ltd. (Rs. 38.05,-3.55%), Vedanta Ltd. (Rs. 139.70,-3.42%),.

The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was weak. On BSE out of total shares traded 2938 , shares advanced were 992 while 1707 shares declined and 239 were unchanged.