Mumbai, Oct 13 : Indian stock markets opened sharply lower on Monday, tracking weakness across Asian markets after US President Donald Trump warned of 'stricter' tariffs on China.

The cautious global sentiment weighed on domestic equities, leading to broad-based selling across sectors.

At the opening bell, the Sensex opened at 82,278, down 223 points or 0.27 per cent, while the Nifty began trading at 25,180, slipping 105 points or 0.42 per cent in early deals.

Commenting on the Nifty outlook, experts said that 'We will begin the week limiting our upside objective to 25460, as maintained last week. Volatility is expected to rise as the week progresses.'

'While nearest support is seen at 25230/15, we will wait for a direct fall past 25113, to step away from the upside plays,' they added.

However, the selling pressure intensified further. Around 9:34 am, the Sensex was trading 422.88 points, or 0.51 per cent, lower at 82,077.94, while the Nifty declined 121.85 points, or 0.48 per cent, to 25,163.50.

Broader markets also witnessed a decline, with the Nifty MidCap index and the Nifty SmallCap index dropping 0.5 per cent and 0.64 per cent, respectively.

All the sectoral indices were trading in the red. The Nifty IT index fell the most, losing 0.9 per cent, followed by the Nifty Metal index, which was down 0.69 per cent.

Market experts attributed the decline to heightened geopolitical tensions and uncertainty surrounding US-China trade relations, which have dampened investor sentiment globally.

'Back home in India, the consistent buying by the FIIs had imparted stability to the market. During the last four trading days FIIs had bought stocks for Rs 3289 crores,' analysts said.

'The uptrend in the market has led to short covering which has helped the market to turn resilient,' they added.

'Domestic consumption themes which will not be impacted by the trade skirmishes are likely to witness accumulation by institutional buyers," market experts stated.

/IANS