India's equity benchmarks opened little changed on Wednesday, with investor caution deepening after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened steep tariffs on pharma imports, a key export for the Asian economy.

A couple deals with major trading partners could mean the effective tariff rate rises from 16% to 18% versus 21% scenario, according to Pringle.Nadia Lovell, senior U.S. equity strategist for UBS Global Wealth Management,

Global markets shrugged off the news, however, with both Asia-Pacific and Europe stocks staging a muted response Tuesday. One reason is likely to be because of Trump's seemingly more flexible approach to the new policies.