Selling pressure was broad-based as eleven of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty Realty index's 1.4 per cent decline
The Indian equity benchmarks bounced back after erasing intraday gains briefly in noon deals. Upmove in the benchmarks was led by gains in heavyweights like Reliance Industries, Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Axis Bank.
In noon deals, the Sensex fell as much as 620 points from day's highest level and Nifty 50 index dropped below its important psychological level of 16,250 after hitting an intraday high of 16,399.80. However, buying at lower levels helped benchmarks stage recovery.
As of 1:49 pm, the Sensex was up 255 points at 54,573 and Nifty 50 index advanced 89 points to 16,348.
"If Nifty sustains above 16,400 it can go up to 16,600 however as long as 16,100 I am bullish on the markets and if it falls below 16,100 it can go down to 15,800-15,700 levels," Santosh Meena, head of research at Swastika Investmart told Outlook Business.
"Most of the negatives like inflation are factored in the recent selloff. Unlike US markets which have entered bear phase, India witnessed a bull market correction and in near term markets will remain choppy but in longer term downside will be limited to 15,000 levels," Meena added.
Selling pressure was broad-based as eleven of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty Realty index's 1.4 per cent decline. Nifty PSU Bank, Bank, Financial Services, Metal and Oil & Gas indices were also trading with a negative bias.
On the other hand, defensive healthcare, pharma and FMCG shares were witnessing buying interest.
Mid- and small-cap shares were also facing selling pressure as Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 0.01 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index declined 0.25 per cent.
Among the individual shares, Bharti Airtel was among the top Nifty loser, the stock fell 2.2 per cent to Rs 692 despite reporting two-fold jump in net profit to Rs 2,008 crore for the March quarter.
Power Grid was top Nifty loser, the stock fell nearly 4 per cent to Rs 230. Bharat Petroleum, Bajaj Finserv, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, Apollo Hospitals, Tech Mahindra, State Bank of India, JSW Steel and NTPC also fell between 1-2 per cent.
On the flipside, Adani Ports, Tata Consumer Products, Ultratech Cement, Asian Paints, Cipla, Divi's Labs, Hindustan Unilever and Coal India were among the gainers.
The overall market breadth was positive as 1,854 shares were advancing while 1,373 were declining on the BSE.