The Sensex and Nifty turned volatile after opening higher in trade today on foreign fund outflows, surging global crude oil prices, weak rupee and negative global cues. While the Sensex was trading 26 points lower at 36,279, the Nifty was down 6.80 points at 10, 960 level.
The Sensex has lost 1,785.62 points in the previous five sessions.
Minutes after opening, the 30-share index fell 124.63 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 36,180.39, after touching a high of 36,454.03 at the outset.
Similarly, the NSE Nifty fell by 33.40 points, or 0.30 per cent, to 10,934.
YES Bank (2.41%) was the top Sensex gainer ahead of its board meeting scheduled in the day.
ONGC (1.50%) and Asian Paints (1.39%) were the other top Sensex gainers.
Tata Steel (2.87%), Bharti Airtel (2.15%) and PowerGrid (2.04%) were the top Sensex losers.
Meanwhile, BSE midcap and small cap indices fell 71 points and 152 points in early trade, respectively.
Banking stocks led the losses with the BSE bankex falling 164 points to 27,857 level.
Sentiment remained weak on prevailing liquidity concerns and sustained capital outflows by foreign funds, apart form crude oil prices reaching the USD 81 a barrel mark to trade at four-year high of USD 81.28 a barrel, brokers said.
The rupee too depreciated by 33 paise to 72.96 against the US dollar in early trade at the interbank forex market.
On Monday, the Sensex tanked 536.58 points or 1.46 per cent to settle at a two-month low of 36,305.02, logging its biggest single-day loss since February 6 when it declined by 561.22 points. The broad-based Nifty of the National Stock Exchange crashed below the 11,000 mark, declining by 168.20 points or 1.51 per cent to end at 10,974.90.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net of Rs 523.94 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 1,527.67 crore yesterday, provisional data showed.
Most Asian stocks fell as trade tensions between the US and China intensified with the more tit-for-tat tariffs.
Japan's Nikkei fell 0.19 per cent, China's Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.76 per cent in their early sessions. Hong Kong markets were closed Tuesday for a public holiday.
The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.68 per cent down Monday.