After opening in negative terrain on continued selling activity by participants, the Sensex dipped below the psychological 28,000-mark to touch a low of 27,869.92. It, however, recovered marginally to 27,911.35, down by 208.05 points, or 0.74 per cent at 1330 hours.
Major losers that pulled down the Sensex and Nifty from crucial levels were Sesa Sterlite, Tata Power, NTPC, Hindalco, Bhyarti Airtel, ONGC, Tata Steel, BHEL, SBI, Axis Bank, L&T, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Coal India, RIL and Cipla.
The 30-share index had lost 443.42 points in the previous two sessions.
Similarly, the National Stock Exchange index Nifty slipped below the crucial 8,400-level by losing 64.00 points, or 0.76 per cent, to 8,374.25. It shuttled between 8,444.50 and 8,362.30.
Sentiments dampened after current account deficit widened to USD 10.1 billion, or 2.1 per cent of GDP, in July-September quarter of this fiscal, up from 1.2 per cent a year ago.
Brokers said sustained selling by participants in bluechip stocks that recently logged gains and a weak trend in global markets after oil prices skidded to fresh five-year lows led to the fall in markets.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 4,984.60 crore yesterday, according to provisional data from the stock exchange.
Bucking the trend, shares of Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy, HDFC Bank, M&M, TCS and Hero MotoCorp were trading in positive zone and cushioned the fall.
Among other Asian markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 2.51 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei shed 0.68 per cent.
European markets were down in their opening trade.