The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 19.93 points to 61,920.27 in early trade.
Equity benchmark indices pared early gains and were trading marginally lower in highly volatile trade on Thursday, dragged down by losses in Larsen & Toubro shares and weak global markets.
The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 19.93 points to 61,920.27 in early trade.
The NSE Nifty fell 15.05 points to 18,300.05.
Among Sensex firms, Larsen & Toubro declined over 5 per cent after the firm said its non-executive chairman AM Naik has decided to step down.
ITC, Bharti Airtel, Nestle, Tata Steel and Tata Motors were among the laggards.
However, NTPC, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Wipro and State Bank of India were trading in the positive zone.
In Asia, bourses in Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong declined, while Seoul was trading in the green.
On Wednesday, the US market closed mostly in the negative range.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers on Wednesday as they bought equities worth Rs 1,833.13 crore, according to exchange data.
VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said, “As per depository data, FPI inflows are unabated touching Rs 19,865 crore in May.
Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 0.75 per cent to $76.98 per barrel.
On Wednesday, the BSE benchmark had climbed 178.87 points, or 0.29 per cent, to close at 61,940.20. The Nifty closed at 18,315.10, up 49.15 points or 0.27 per cent.