After displaying weakness in morning trades, markets recovered and traded almost flat for some time. However, renewed worries dragged the markets into red once again.
The Sensex touched a high of 16,751 and slipped 171 points from theer to hit a low of 16,622. The index is now down 67 points at 16,652.
The Nifty is down 20 points at 4,967.
Market heavy-weight, Reliance, dragged the benchmark in the morning following reports of Sebi allegations that the company has been routing funds to dummy companies for buying large quantities of its own share in 2000. The stock is now up 0.6% at Rs 1,017.
Global markets however, showed mixed trends. US markets edged up good quarterly numbers from IT companies. Asian markets are mostly trading in red today.
The BSE consumer durable index has jumped 2% to 3,602. However, the consumer goods index has shed over 1% at 13,531. Auto, FMCG, power and metal indices are trading in red.
Mahindra & Mahindra has shed 2.3% to Rs 1,029. Jaiprakash Associates, Larsen & Toubro and Hindalco have dropped 2% each.
BHEL slipped 1.8% to Rs 2,276. Bharti Airtel declined 1.6% to Rs 312.
DLF, Sterlite, ITC, Infosys, ACC and Maruti Suzuki are the other losers in the Sensex today.
However, software companies have gained following positive cues in the sector in US. TCS has added 1.8% to Rs 741. Wipro is up 1.7% at Rs 687.
Reliance has topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 117.34 crore, followed by Havells India (Rs 62.34 crore), SBI (Rs 58.33 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 54.44 crore) and DLF (Rs 54.25 crore).
The volume chart is being led by Austral Coke with trades of over 15.57 million shares, followed by Unitech (6.45 million), Dish TV (5.07 million) and Suzlon (4.17 million).
