The BSE Sensex declined as much as 514 points to touch an intra-day low of 48,988.18 points.

Around 10.40, it was trading at 49,114.01, lower by 388.4 points or 0.78 per cent from its previous close of 49,502.41.

It opened at 49,066.45 and has so far touched an intra-day high of 49,171.26 points.

The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange was trading at 14,839.05, lower by 103.30 points or 0.69 per cent from its previous close.

Manish Hathiramani, technical analyst with Deen Dayal Investments said: "The market has opened with a gap down, but is still maintaining the 14,700 support level. We could work our way through this fall by strategically  buying into the index. The risk reward is favorable. If we move up from here, the target should be 15,200 and a close below 14,700 is the stop loss."

The top gainers on the Sensex were UltraTech Cement, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries and NTPC, while HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Tech Mahindra were the major losers.