The Sensex and Nifty fell on Monday as increasing trade tensions between the United States and other major economies continued to dampen investor sentiment. The Sensex slumped over 219 points to close at 35,470.35, while the Nifty50 cracked below the 10,800-mark to hit a low of 10,753.05 intra-day, before closing at 10,762.45 with a loss of 59.40 points, or 0.55 per cent. 

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Financial and energy stocks were among the biggest drags on both the indices, with the Nifty PSU Bank index and the Nifty Energy index closing down 2 per cent and 1.2 per cent, respectively.

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and the BSE Smallcap indices underperformed to lose nearly 1 per cent each. 

Market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, turned sharply negative. On the BSE, 1,729 stocks declined, 858 stocks rallied, while 160 stocks remained unchanged.

"Global trade war concerns and F&O expiry-led volatility impacted the market sentiment. Drop in oil prices on account of increase in production will provide some relief to Indian markets in the near-term. However, any escalation in trade tensions and outflow of foreign funds is likely to add pressure on rupee and fiscal path," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, Coal India and Larsen & Toubro were the biggest losers on Sensex and slipped between 2 per cent to 6 per cent. Infosys (up 2 per cent), Vedanta (up 0.7 per cent) and Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 0.7 per cent) were the top gainers. 

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On the Nifty, Tata Motors (down 6.3 per cent), HPCL (3.99 per cent), ICICI Bank (3.6 per cent) and BPCL (down 3.3 per cent) shed the most, while Ultratech Cement (up 2.6 per cent), Bajaj Finance (up 2.7 per cent), Infosys (up 1.7 per cent) and Bharti Infratel (up 1.6 per cent) rallied the most. 

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 1,343.44 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 1,105.76 crore on Friday, as per provisional data.

Overseas, World shares fell on Monday, dented by worries over a worsening trade dispute between the United States and other major economies, while oil prices gave up some of the gains made after major exporters agreed a modest production increase.

Asian markets ended sharply lower and in London the pan-European STOXX 600 index was down over half a per cent in morning trade.

S&P500 mini futures fell as much as 0.6 per cent while MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.95 per cent to 6-1/2-month lows. Japan’s Nikkei lost 0.8 per cent.