Domestic equity market opened on a highly volatile note on Wednesday tracking heavy foreign fund outflow and mixed cues from global markets amid rising fears of an impending recession and escalation in US-China trade war.
After swinging over 200 points in the first 15 minutes of the session, the 30-share index was trading 11.13 points, or 0.03 per cent, lower at 36,551.78 at 0930 hours, while the broader Nifty slipped 4.50 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 10,793.40.
In the previous session on Tuesday, the BSE barometer ended 769.88 points, or 2.06 per cent, lower at 36,562.91, while the Nifty sank 225.35 points, or 2.04 per cent, to settle at 10,797.90.
Top losers in the Sensex pack in early trade on Wednesday included Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints, RIL, Maruti and Tata Motors, which fell up to 4 per cent. On the other hand, ITC, Bharti Airtel, SBI, PowerGrid, Hero MotoCorp, Vedanta and L&T rose up to 1.23 per cent.
On Tuesday, foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth a net of Rs 2,016.20 crore, while domestic institutional investors purchased shares worth Rs 1,251.35 crore, provisional data showed.
According to traders, besides heavy foreign fund outflow, continually rising fears of a global recession and the escalating trade war between the US and China kept market participants jittery.
Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Korea were trading on a positive note in their respective late morning sessions, while those in Japan were in the red. On Wall Street, stock exchanges ended significantly lower on Tuesday.
Investor sentiment was also weak amid deceleration of economic growth due to fall in consumption and subdued manufacturing activity diminished the scope for a turnaround in the near-term, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services. The rupee, meanwhile, recovered 11 paise against its previous close to trade at 72.28 in early session. Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.17 per cent higher at 58.36 per barrel.