Sensex, Nifty trade flat in opening session amid weak trader sentiment over US-China trade war

The benchmark BSE Sensex traded flat in the opening session amid weakness in Asian markets over a much likely US-China trade war. Selling pressure on IT, Teck and oil & gas stocks, too, weighed on market sentiment.

The 30-share index slipped 60.10 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 32,536.44. The benchmark had lost 539.64 points in the previous two sessions. Major laggards were Hero MotoCorp, Wipro, ITC, TCS, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Dr Reddy's, Kotak Bank, HDFC and Bajaj Auto, falling by up to 2 per cent.

NSE Nifty was trading down by 14.35 points, or 0.14 per cent, at 9,983.70. Meanwhile, on a net basis, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth Rs 935.41 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares of Rs 1628.19 crore.

Asian markets were trading lower following a global sell-off last week amid rising tensions between the US and China. Fears of a full-blown trade war dampened investor sentiment here, broker said.

Japan's Nikkei shed 0.40 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng down 0.44 per cent. Shanghai Composite Index shed 1.32 per cent in early trade. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average also ended 1.77 per cent lower Friday.