Equity benchmark indices pared opening gains and were trading marginally lower in a highly volatile trade on Thursday, dragged down by a decline in Larsen & Toubro shares and weak global markets.
The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 19.93 points to 61,920.27 points in early trade after hitting the crucial 62,000-mark in opening deals.
The NSE Nifty fell 15.05 points to 18,300.05 points.
Among the Sensex firms, Larsen & Toubro tumbled over 5 per cent after the firm said its Non-Executive Chairman A M Naik has decided to step down from the post.
ITC, Bharti Airtel, Nestle, Tata Steel and Tata Motors were among the laggards.
However, NTPC, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Wipro and State Bank of India were trading in the positive territory.
In Asia, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong markets quoted lower while Seoul traded in the green.
The US market ended mostly in the negative territory on Wednesday.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers on Wednesday as they bought equities worth Rs 1,833.13 crore, according to exchange data.
"FPI inflows continue unabated touching Rs 19,865 crore in May as per depository data. This will impart resilience to the market even if there is profit-booking," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said.
Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 0.75 per cent to USD 76.98 per barrel.
The BSE benchmark had climbed 178.87 points or 0.29 per cent to settle at 61,940.20 points on Wednesday. The Nifty gained 49.15 points or 0.27 per cent to end at 18,315.10 points.
Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.
