Equity benchmarks opened on a strong note on Tuesday - a day after registering their worst single-day fall - but failed to maintain the gains as the underlying weakness in investor sentiments again led to selling in most stocks.
The 30-share Sensex, which gained nearly 1,500 points to touch a high of 27,463 in the first few minutes of the session, dipped into the red to trade at 25,843.39, down a marginal 138 points at 10:07am
The Nifty was at 7,570.55, down 39.70 points. The India VIX jumped over 15% to touch a record 82.91.
On BSE, more than 1,000 sticks were in the red, as against around 500 gainers. In the Sensex pack, 18 stocks were in the red.
