Sensex dives 390 points in early trade; Nifty below 11,600

NEW DELHI: Equity indices on Monday started on a lower note with the benchmark BSE sensex down nearly 400 points amid weak global cues. Global financial markets tumbled after US President Donald Trump unexpectedly jacked up pressure on China to reach a trade deal, saying he would hike tariffs on Chinese goods this week.

Sensex plunged 390 points or 1 per cent to 38,573 in early trade, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 113 points or 0.95 per cent lower to trade at 11,599.

On the 30-share BSE index, major laggards include Tata Motors, Yes Bank, Tata Steel, Vedanta, HDFC and IndusInd Bank with their shares diving as much as 4 per cent. On NSE, all sub-indices started on a negative tone with Nifty Metal sliding the most, down 2.42 per cent.

Analysts have predicted that markets are expected to remain choppy for the next few days amid the ongoing earnings season and general elections, with macroeconomic data taking centre stage this week.

"This week there are multiple data that will be watched, mainly industrial production and manufacturing production," said Mustafa Nadeem, CEO, Epic Research.

PMI data for the services sector too is set to release this week.

"Markets are expected to remain choppy in the next few weeks due to quarterly numbers of companies and the result outcome overhang," said Jimeet Modi, founder and CEO, SAMCO Securities and StockNote.

"Airtel, ICICI Bank, HCL Tech will declare their March quarter results this week," said Manish Yadav, head of research, CapitalAim.

Meanwhile, the rupee depreciated by 24 paise to 69.46 against the US dollar in early trade on increased demand for the US currency from importers and weak opening in domestic equities.