Mumbai, Feb 8 (IANS): The benchmark Sensex lost over 280 points during the afternoon session of the trade on Friday owing to a steep decline in auto stocks led by Tata Motors and broadly negative global cues.

Apart from realty, teck and telecom stocks all the sectors on the BSE came under heavy selling. Auto stocks declined by 2.75 per cent.

Globally, investors reacted negatively after US President Donald Trump said he would not meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping ahead of a trade deal deadline on March 2, when American tariffs on Chinese products were slated to increase.

At 2.22 p.m., the BSE Sensex traded 283.08 points lower at 36,688.01 from its previous close of 36,971.09 while the broader Nifty declined by 80.15 points at 10,989.25.

Stock-wise, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, HCL Tech and Bharti Airtel were the top gainers on Sensex.

In contrast, Tata Motors slipped 17.69 per cent while the Tata Motors(DVR) declined over 13 per cent after the company reported a massive loss in its third quarter results declared on Thursday.

Among the other laggards were Vedanta, Larsen and Tubro, Tata Steel and ONGC.