Indian markets open on a jittery note. Thanks to China!

Nifty opened nearly a percent lower, in line with its futures trading on the Singapore, as investors took fright from a sharp fall in Chinese equities in particular and Asian markets in general.

Trading was stopped in Chinese equity markets after the main index slumped another 5 percent in trade, prompting authorities to shut exchanges for a while and for the panic to seep out of the system.

Meanwhile, in India, the Nifty fell to 8,417 in early deals. Traders are likely to remain fence sitters for the first hour of trade to see whether the fall in Chinese equities has been digested by local markets or not. The Nifty was trading 1 percent lower at 8,426 by 9.40 am.

Meanwhile, there was a move towards defensives as Hind Unilever, Cipla and BPCL topped the gainers list. On the losers side were Vedanta, Tata Motors and Hindalco on the Nifty. The index's Advance-Decline Ratio stood at 1:9 in the first 20 minutes of trade.

The Sensex fell 245 points to 27,925, down 0.9 percent.

(image credits: globalgujaratnews)