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After falling to their 4-month low levels, key benchmark indices recovered from lower levels on account of short-covering in key heavyweights. A day earlier, provisional data showed that foreign funds remained net sellers of Indian stocks, hitting the sentiment.
Market remained heavily volatile on Tuesday with INDIA VIX, the NSE volatility index gained 3.61 percent, after earlier marking its highest intraday level since December 9, reflecting the pressure on emerging markets.
The CBOE Emerging Markets ETF Volatility Index surged on Monday, marking its highest close since June 25, 2013.
At 2:43pm, the 30-share Sensex was down 3 points at 20,206 after hitting a low of 19,963 and the 50-share Nifty was down 2 points at 6,004 after touching an intra-day low of 5,933
Asian stocks tracked sharp fall in overnight trades on Wall Street. The Nikkei was nearing a three-month low and was down 3.9% at 14,043. Singapore's Straits Times was down 0.8% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 2.6%.
The rupee was weak at 62.59 compared to previous close 62.58. Emerging markets are under pressure after data showing US manufacturing activity slowed sharply raises risk aversion. The dollar index was up 0.15% against a basket of six major currencies.
Apart from Consumer Durables up 0.1% and Bankex up 0.1%, all the other sectoral indices on the BSE were down. BSE IT index was the top loser, down 2.08% , Metal, Oil and Gas, FMCG and Realty down 0.7-1% each.
IT shares which had remained range bound in the previous sessions witnessed profit taking after weaker-than-expected manufacturing data in the US. HCL Tech was the biggest loser, down 3.86%, while Infosys, TCS and Wipro down 1.6-3% each.
State Bank of India was the top gainer in the Sensex, up 1.59%, followed by Bharti Airtel (+0.83%), Tata Motors (+0.79%), and Cipla (+0.39%). Major Sensex losers included GAIL India (-3.10%), M&M (-2.92%) and Hindalco Industries (-2.41%).
Hero MotoCorp gained 0.35% despite wwak market conditions after the company reported record sales of over 5.5 lakh units in January.
The BSE Mid-cap index and Small-cap index were down 0.3% and 0.62% each.
Market breadth weakened further with 1211 losers and 746 gainers on the BSE, while 110 scrips remained unchanged.
