INDIA STOCKS-Indian shares steady, outperform regional peers as investors weigh tariff impact

April 16 (Reuters) - India's benchmark indexes were flat on Wednesday, holding recent gains as strong domestic fundamentals and limited U.S. trade exposure helped them outperform regional peers.

The Nifty 50 .NSEI and BSE Sensex .BSESN eased 0.2% each at 23,292.30 and 76,571.6, respectively as of 10:42 a.m. IST after rallying around 4% in the past two sessions.

Indian benchmarks have outperformed regional peers since April 2, when U.S. President Donald Trump announced reciprocal tariffs. While the indexes are flat compared to their April 2 levels, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan index .MIAPJ0000PUS has fallen around 5% and was down over 1% on Wednesday.

"Although India is better placed than other Asian countries in terms of U.S. reciprocal tariffs, there is a risk of dumping by other countries. The clarity will only come once things settle," said Anita Gandhi, founder and head of institutional business at Arihant Capital Markets.

An above-average monsoon forecast, foreign investor buying on Tuesday, and domestic retail inflation at a five-year low are helping support the market at current levels, analysts said.

Bank stocks .NSEBANK rose 0.8% and led the gains for the second session on hopes of improvement in their net interest margin after major lenders lowered their savings deposit rate.

IndusInd Bank INBK.NS jumped nearly 4% and was top Nifty gainer after it lowered the estimated impact of discrepancies in derivatives accounts to 2.27% of its net worth from 2.35% earlier, following an external agency probe.

Information technology .NIFTYIT and auto .NIFTYAUTO stocks were down 0.7% and 0.6%, respectively, offsetting the gains in bank stock.

The broader mid- .NIFMDCP100 and small-caps .NIFSMCP100 rose 0.5% and 0.7%, respectively.