Markets closed in the red for the sixth day in a row troubled by a series of defaults by DHFL and Cox and King and uninspiring quarterly results.
Besides, investors have already been under pressure owing to the slowdown concerns, very visible in the performance of steel companies while the exodus of foreign funds seems to be nearing the sell-off in October last year.
The Sensex closed 16.67 points lower at 37,830.98 from its Wednesday's close of 37,847.65, while the Nifty fell by 19.15 points to 11,252.15.
Tata Motors saw its worst day on the bourses in nearly an year, ahead of its June quarter corporate results. The previous 2-3 quarters have been tough for auto companies who have been feeling the pinch of the consumption slowdown.
"We had a flat opening today owing to mixed global cues. However, during the first half an hour of the trade, we saw strong bout of buying to push the index near yesterday's high of 11359.75," said Sameet Chavan, Chief Analyst-Technical and Derivatives, Angel Broking.
"In fact, in this process, Nifty managed to surpass it by a small margin and then similar to recent trend, this lead got sold into. Thereafter, the index struggled throughout the remaining part of the day to eventually conclude the July series at a two month low," Chavan added.
( With inputs from IANS )