The 30-share barometer resumed higher and touched a high of 16,240.18 in late morning trade on positive opening across Asian stocks.
But a weak opening in Europe along with rupee touching a record intra-day low pulled the blue-chip index down to close at 16,070.48, a rise of 40.39 points. Yesterday, it had fallen by 298.16 points or 1.83 per cent after a global turmoil in financial markets on fears of Greece's exit from Eurozone.
Brokers said the investors are still wary about the present uncertain scenario and preferred to lock gains even at current 4-month low levels. For the overall market, 1,340 stocks gained while 1,368 counters fell.
The rupee opened at 54.36 versus the US dollar and was trading near 54.50 levels after touching all-time lows.
The sustained fall in the rupee against the US dollar to a new record low was not providing any support to the weak market sentiment, they added. A depreciating rupee raises import costs as well as increases the burden on Indian companies repaying foreign loans.
"After the initial strong start, Indian stocks succumbed to selling pressure on back of weaker opening seen in European markets and weakening rupee," said Milan Bavishi, Head Research, Inventure Growth & Securities.
FMCG major ITC with a 3.14 per cent rise today led the Sensex gainers. It was followed by Jindal Steel (1.98 pc), DLF (1.68 pc), HDFC (1.59 pc) and SBI (1.56 pc). Maruti and RIL were up 1.32 per cent each. L&T, M&M, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Auto and Cipla that lost between 2.7-3.6 per cent pulled down the index.
The 50-share NSE Nifty rose by 11.95 points or 0.25 pct to 4,870.20. (MORE)
