Markets open flat even as Asian shares falter on renewed trade war fears

Deprecating rupee against the dollar also added to the dampened sentiment.

New Delhi: Markets opened flat on Tuesday after Asian shares tanked over 3 percent on renewed trade war fears.

Heavy selling was witnessed in metal, healthcare and banking stocks while a weak rupee also added to the dampened sentiment.

Sensex dropped 67.97 points or 0.19 percent to 35,196.44 in early morning trade. The gauge had lost 159.07 points in the previous session yesterday. In a similar fashion, the NSE Nifty fell 12 points or 0.11 percent to 10,645.30.

Sectoral indices led by realty, power, metal, healthcare, PSU, consumder durable, FMCG and banking were trading in the negative zone with fall of up to 0.79 percent.

Major losers were Vedanta, Power Grids, ICICI Bank, NTPC, HDFC Ltd, ITC, Wipro, M&M, Kotak Bank, Coal India, IndusInd Bank, Sun Pharma, Maruti Suzuki and Adani ports, falling up to 3.31 percent.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 1,205.12 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 366.94 crore yesterday as per provisional data.

The Asia Pacific MSCI index ex-Japan dropped 0.66 percent on early Tuesday trade, while Japan`s Nikkei average was little changed.

In China, the Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.23 percent and the blue chip CSI300 index fell 0.19 percent.

With Agency Inputs