Besides, the government's decision to withdraw currency notes of higher denominations also added to the woes as sectors with higher dependency on cash transactions saw a massive sell-off.
However, late buying by domestic financial houses helped the Sensex recover towards the fag-end.
Among the 30-share Sensex pack, 22 stocks were in negative zone.
The index had tumbled 1,689 points and the NSE Nifty fell below the 8,100-mark in early trade as investors indulged in all-round selling, tracking meltdown in global equities.
All the sectoral indices led by realty, metal and capital goods were still trading in red, falling by up to 9.91 per cent.
After resuming lower at 26,251.39 the Sensex continued its slide to crack below the 26,000-mark and hit a low of 25,902.45 before recovering to 27,331.88, still down by 259.25 points.
The broad-based NSE Nifty which dipped below the 8,100-mark and touched a low of 8,002.25, was trading at 8,458.30, still down by 85.25.
A downwatred in futures also showed that Wall Street will likely open with heavy losses.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
