Equity indices made a firm start on Tuesday, with the Sensex climbing over 132 points but later pared the initial gains amid volatile trade.

The 30-share BSE Sensex opened higher and further jumped 174.18 points to 54,463.13 points. The broader NSE Nifty gained 48 points to 16,262.80 points in the opening trade.

However, both the benchmark indices later faced volatility and were quoting in the red.

At 10.20 am, the Sensex traded 211.47 points lower at 54,077.49 points and the Nifty declined 93.40 points to 16,121.30 points.

In the Sensex pack, M&M, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, Power Grid and Reliance were among the major gainers in early deals.

In contrast, Hindustan Unilever, Tech Mahindra, Divis Lab, Grasim, Apollo Hospital, Bharti Airtel, Titan and TCS were among the laggards.

Asian markets

Asian markets in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo were trading lower.

Stock markets in the US had ended higher on Monday.

"Asian stocks fluctuated whereas Wall Street closed with strong gains amid rally in bank stocks," Mohit Nigam, Head - PMS, Hem Securities, said.

The BSE benchmark settled 37.78 points or 0.07 per cent lower at 54,288.61 points on Monday. The NSE Nifty declined 51.45 points or 0.32 per cent to end at 16,214.70 points.

International oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.48 per cent to $112.93 per barrel.

FIIs on selling spree

Continuing their selling spree, foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth ₹1,951.17 crore on Monday, as per stock exchange data.

"There is no distinct trend in this whipsaw market. Daily trading for the near-term is fraught with high risk," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said.