Sensex sheds 100 points, Nifty slips below 11,900 amid weak Asian cues

NEW DELHI: Domestic equity market was trading with losses in the opening trade on Monday, tracking cues from Asian peers. The US markets closed higher on Friday but Asian markets lost track and were in the red as violence broke out in Hong Kong.

The domestic market too shrugged positive comments by US President Donald Trump who said trade talks with China were moving along “very nicely”.

BSE benchmark Sensex was down 107 points at 40,215 while its NSE counterpart Nifty opened below 11,900 level, at 11,883, down 25 points. Broader markets were mixed with Nifty Smallcap and Midcap gaining 0.1 per cent to 5,748 and 16,729, respectively. Nifty500 was, however, down 0.2 per cent at 9,667.


Among Sensex stocks, YES Bank was the biggest gainer, up 4 per cent at Rs 71.75, followed by Bharti Airtel that rose 1.15 per cent to Rs 373.30. Sun Pharma continued its downward journey, sliding further 2.55 per cent to Rs 411.05.

Nifty Pharma was the biggest sectoral losers on NSE, down by 1.26 per cent at 7,689. Apart from Sun Pharma, fall in Cipla and Auro Pharma added to losses. There were very few sectoral gainers -- Nifty PSU Bank was up 0.3 per cent at 2,444 and Nifty Media 0.14 per cent in early trade.

Asian shares reversed gains on Monday, the yen ticked higher and gold jumped as fresh violence broke out in Hong Kong, while uncertainty still remained over whether the United States and China could end their damaging trade war.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index led the losses in Asia, down more than 1 per cent, after police fired live rounds at protestors on the eastern side of Hong Kong island. Cable TV and other Hong Kong media reported at least one protester being wounded. Video footage showed a protester lying in a pool of blood.

Chinese shares too started lower with the blue-chip CSI300 index down 0.6 per cent. South Korea's KOSPI lost 0.7 per cent.