India's equity benchmarks are expected to open little changed on Wednesday, with investor caution deepening after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened steep tariffs on pharma imports, a key export segment for India.

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.

Copper surged to a record high after Donald Trump said he planned to impose 50pc tariffs on imports of the vital metal. US contracts of copper, an essential part of electrical cables and devices, climbed as much as 17pc to an all-time high after the President’s comments during a White House cabinet meeting.