A bout of volatility was witnessed in late morning trade as the key benchmark indices trimmed initial gains triggered by better-than-expected industrial production data released after trading hours last Friday.
The Sensex was trading down by 6 points in late morning trade on fresh selling in auto, metal and banking and renewed buying in realty, capital goods and consumer durables.
The Sensex was trading below the psychological 29,000 mark after hitting an intra-day high for the first time since March 13.
The 30-share index Sensex resumed higher by 28,955.13 and hovered in a range of 29,005.03 and 28,843.94 before quoting at 28,873.44 at 1030hrs, showing a loss of 5.94 points or 0.02 per cent from its last close.
The NSE 50-share Nifty also quoted lower by 10.10 points, or 0.12 per cent to 8,770.25.
Major losers were Gail by (2.94 pct), Hindalco by 1.67 pct, M&M by 1.59 pct, Dr Reddy 1.58 pct, SSLT by 1.492, Tata Motors 1.25 pct and Cipla by 1.01 pct.
However, Bhel rose by 1.62 pct, followed by Bharti Airtel by 1.13 pct, SunPharma by 1.08 pct, Larsen by 1.01 pct and Tata Steel by 0.92 pct.
Key benchmark indices in China, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea rose by 0.11 pct to 1.51 pct. Indices in Japan and Indonesia fell by 0.13 pct to 0.54 pct.