Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty began the trade with modest gains on Thursday and later traded lower in-tandem with sluggish global market trends amid growing tensions in the Middle East.

Fresh foreign fund outflows also dented investors' sentiment.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 108.02 points to 82,623.16 in early trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty went up by 38.7 points to 25,180.10.

However, later both the benchmark equity indices slipped in the negative territory and were trading lower. The BSE benchmark gauge quoted 178.60 points lower at 82,331.42, and the Nifty traded 57.15 points down at 25,093.75.

From the Sensex firms, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finserv, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, Adani Ports, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance and Larsen & Toubro were among the biggest gainers.

Infosys, Eternal, Tech Mahindra and Tata Motors were among the laggards.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi and Shanghai's SSE Composite index were trading in the positive territory while Japan's Nikkei 225 index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng quoted lower.

US markets ended lower on Wednesday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 446.31 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

"The recent flattish trend in the market is likely to continue in the near-term since there are no clear positive triggers that can push the market much higher," VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

The spike in Brent crude to $70 on heightened security risks in the Middle East is a negative for India, he added.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.42 per cent to USD 69.48 a barrel.

On Wednesday, the 30-share BSE Sensex rose by 123.42 points or 0.15 per cent to settle at 82,515.14. The Nifty ended 37.15 points or 0.15 per cent up at 25,141.40.