Sensex, Nifty hover near day's low

Key barometers were trading near the day's low in mid-afternoon trade amid weak global cues following renewed uncertainty over US-China trade relations. At 14:21 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 560.50 points or 1.52% at 36,281.10. The Nifty 50 index was down 181.70 points or 1.63% at 10,961.40. The Nifty was trading below the 11,000 mark.

Overseas, European stocks declined on Monday, as investors braced for the ramifications of another round of tariffs from the two major economies. Most Asian stocks were trading lower. The markets in Japan, South Korea and China are closed for public holidays on Monday.

The US-China trade war remained in focus Monday, with tariffs from both parties due to go into effect. Washington has announced 10% duties on $200 billion of Chinese imports, which prompted Beijing to respond with tariffs on $60 billion of US goods. On Friday, the media reported that China had called off planned trade talks with the US in the wake of a new round of duties.

In US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday notched a second straight all-time high, but a slump in technology and internet-related stocks weighed on the broader market, pressuring the Nasdaq.

In the latest US data, a reading on the manufacturing sector rose to 55.6 in September from the previous reading of 54.7. A report on the services sector dipped to 52.9 from 54.8. Both are from IHS Markit.

Back home, broader market tumbled. Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 2.36%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 2.75%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On BSE, 443 shares rose and 2148 shares fell. A total of 128 shares were unchanged.

Cement shares declined. UltraTech Cement (down 2.77%), Ambuja Cements (down 1.91%) and ACC (down 0.22%), edged lower.

Grasim Industries was down 0.94%. Grasim has exposure to cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.

Telecom shares tumbled. Idea Cellular (down 6.27%), MTNL (down 6.06%), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (down 5.62%), Reliance Communications (down 5.29%) and Bharti Airtel (down 5.05%), edged lower.

Telecom tower infrastructure provider Bharti Infratel was down 0.5%.

On the macro front, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday assured that there will not be any liquidity crunch for non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), mutual funds and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

On Sunday, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had issued similar statements saying that the RBI and the Sebi are closely monitoring the recent developments in financial markets and are ready to take appropriate actions, if necessary. These statements had some impact on the stock market in the initial trade when both the indices opened higher, but soon turned negative.

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