Mumbai, Oct 1 : A key index of the Indian equities markets turned volatile Thursday morning, slipped into the red shortly before noon.

At 11.48 p. m., the sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was at 17,096.91 points -- 29.93 points or 0.17 percent below Wednesday's close at 17,126.84 points.

It had opened higher at 17,186.2 points.

Around the same time, the S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was also in negative terrain at 5,071.75 points, down 0.24 percent from its last close.

Broader market indices were trading mixed, with the BSE midcap index trading 0.04 percent higher and the BSE smallcap index moving down 0.05 percent.

The market breadth was negative, with 1,066 stocks advancing, 1,357 declining and 81 remaining unchanged.

Other prominent Asian markets were also in the red.

The Nikkei, a key index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, closed 154.59 points or 1.53 percent lower at 9,978.64 points.

The primary index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Hang Seng, was down 57.92 points or 0.28 percent at 20,955.25 points.

At the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the benchmark SSE Composite was ruling 0.69 percent down at 2,744.52 points. (ians)