Markets open lower; Sensex falls 601 points in early trade

Mumbai: Equity benchmarks began the trade on a weak note on Tuesday amid a sell-off in world stock markets but later traded with high volatility.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 601.39 points to 58,172.48 in early trade. The broader NSE Nifty declined 145.5 points to 17,345.20.

Later, both the benchmark indices turned volatile swinging between gains and losses. The Sensex quoted 88.72 points higher at 58,862.59, while the Nifty climbed 33.50 points to 17,524.20 after initial decline.

From the Sensex pack, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, IndusInd Bank, Dr Reddy's Lab and HDFC Bank were the major laggards in early trade.

On the other hand, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Steel and UltraTech Cement were trading higher.

In Asia, markets in Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong were trading lower, while Shanghai quoted in the green in mid-session deals.

The Wall Street had ended sharply lower on Monday.

The BSE benchmark had tumbled 872.28 points or 1.46 per cent to settle at 58,773.87 on Monday. The Nifty declined 267.75 points or 1.51 per cent to finish at 17,490.70.

Meanwhile, the international oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.79 per cent higher at USD 97.22 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 453.77 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.