Stock markets fall on global cues as US-China trade tensions escalate

Equity benchmark indices opened lower on Monday tracking a selloff in global markets after US President Donald Trump vowed to hike tariffs on China.

At the National Stock Exchange, all sectoral indices were in the red.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S & P Sensex was 314 points down at 38,649 while the Nifty plunged 96 points to 11,615.

Tata Motors slipped 4.5 per cent while Tata Steel, JSW Steel and Hindalco each were down over 3 per cent.

Yes Bank too was down 2.9 per cent after ICRA rating agency last week downgraded the bank's tier-I and tier-II bonds besides infrastructure debt on the deterioration in the credit quality of large ticket borrowers.

Companies that gained marginally were Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Indian Oil, Wipro, Tech Mahindra and Tata Consultancy Services.

Meanwhile, shares in Asian markets were treading in the negative zone after Trump's threat to increase tariffs on Chinese imports cast a cloud over talks this week that was expected to finalise a trade deal.

China's shares tumbled more than 3.5 per cent when the market opened after a holiday. The country's equities are already under pressure amid concerns that government stimulus will not be as robust as many had anticipated.