Volatility was high in early afternoon trade as the key benchmark indices cut losses soon after hitting intraday low. At 12:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 358.21 points or 0.98% at 36,073.46. The Nifty 50 index was down 109.35 points or 1% at 10,842.35. The Sensex regained the psychological 36,000 mark after briefly sliding below that level. IT stocks dropped. Telecom stocks saw mixed trend. Negative Asian stocks weighed on the local stocks.

Domestic stocks turned positive soon after opening lower on negative Asian stocks. Volatility ruled the roost as the key benchmark indices dropped in morning trade. Stocks extended slide in mid-morning trade on fresh selling.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was off 1.06%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was off 0.57%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On the BSE, 787 shares rose and 1531 shares fell. A total of 129 shares were unchanged.

IT stocks dropped. TCS (down 1.36%), Infosys (down 2.08%), Wipro (down 1.06%), HCL Technologies (down 0.68%), Tech Mahindra (down 0.5%), Hexaware Technologies (down 1.15%) and Mphasis (down 1.87%) declined. Oracle Financial Services Software (up 0.25%) and MindTree (up 0.42%) rose.

Telecom stocks saw mixed trend. MTNL (down 0.08%), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (down 1.39%) and Reliance Communications (down 0.56%) fell. Vodafone Idea (up 0.79%) rose.

Bharti Airtel shed 0.24%. Bharti Airtel's board approved sale of up to 59.18 crore equity shares, representing 32% stake of Bharti Infratel owned by the company to its arm Nettle Infrastructure Investments. After the deal, Bharti Airtel will own 18.33% stake in its Infratel arm and Nettle Infrastructure Investments and the public will hold 35.18% and 46.49%, respectively.

Further, the board formed and authorised 'special committee of directors for fund raising' to comprehensively explore/evaluate various options of fund-raising for the company to strengthen its capital structure and balance sheet and place the final recommendation before the board for its approval/final decision. Separately, the Bharti Airtel board Thursday named Badal Bagri as the company's new CFO, who will replace global CFO Nilanjan Roy, who has resigned. The announcements were made after market hours yesterday, 20 December 2018.

Overseas, Asian stock markets declined Friday as US stocks dropped overnight. US stocks closed sharply lower Thursday with investors rattled after the Federal Reserve's interest-rate policy and fresh concerns of a partial government shutdown undercut buying appetite.

Meanwhile, fears over a potential partial government shutdown intensified after reports that President Donald Trump told House Republicans he would refuse to sign an appropriations bill passed by the Senate that would avert a shutdown, unless both houses of Congress agree to appropriate $5 billion in extra funds for expansion of the US southern border wall.

On the macro front, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia released the results of its monthly regional survey of manufacturers, with the index showing a reading of 9.4, down from 12.9 in November