Sensex, Nifty Decline As Trade Tensions Weigh

(RTTNews) - Indian shares ended Monday's session lower as U.S. President Donald Trump escalated his trade offensive, leading to increased volatility in global markets and prompting investors to seek refuge in safe-haven assets.

Trump on Saturday threatened to impose a 30 percent tariff on imports from Mexico and the European Union starting on Aug 1, even as they are locked in long negotiations.

Caution over the Russia-Ukraine conflict also weighed on markets after Trump said Sunday the U.S. would provide Kyiv with more Patriot surface-to-air systems to help defend against Russia's nightly bombardments.

With a ceasefire and an eventual peace deal thus failing to achieve a breakthrough, Trump is expected to make a "major statement" on Russia later today.

The announcement regarding Russia raised speculation about new sanctions that may affect global supplies and push oil prices higher.

The benchmark S&P/BSE Sensex ended the session down 247 points, or 0.30 percent, at 82,253 while the broader NSE Nifty index closed down 67 points, or 0.27 percent, at 25,082.

The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes rose 0.7 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively to outperform their larger peers.

The market breadth was slightly negative on the BSE, with 2,107 shares declining while 2,077 shares advanced and 156 shares closed unchanged.

Among the prominent decliners, TCS, Larsen & Toubro, HCL Technologies, Bajaj Finance, Asian Paints, Infosys and Tech Mahindra dropped 1-2 percent.