The Sensex climbed 239.33 points to 81,390.60 in early trade while the Nifty was up 72.95 points to 24,854.05.

The market trend remained negative. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 679 stocks were trading in green, while 1,668 stocks were trading in red.

Nifty Bank was at 52,192.10 after gaining 229.40 points or 0.44 per cent. The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 57,484.45 after slipping 193.25 points or 0.34 per cent. The Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 18,717.10 after gaining 80.30 points or 0.43 per cent.

UltraTech Cement, Titan, PowerGrid Infosys and ICICI Bank were the top gainers in the Sensex pack. At the same time, Tata Steel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, SBI, Bajaj Finance and Tata Motors were the top losers.

Adani Enterprises Limited, Adani Ports, Maruti, Infosys and ICICI Bank were the top gainers in the Nifty pack. At the same time, SBI Life, Shri Ram Finance, UltraTech Cement and HDFC Life were the top losers.

In Asian markets, the markets of Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading in the green. At the same time, the markets of Jakarta, Bangkok and Japan were trading in the red. The US stock market closed in the red on its last trading day.

According to market experts, when market valuations are at elevated levels, some triggers will cause corrections, making the valuations reasonable and in tune with long-term averages.

This time the trigger for the correction has come from the sustained selling by FIIs which has reached Rs 88,244 crore by October 21, according to NSDL, they added.

"Since market sentiments continue to be negative a sharp and sustained recovery appears difficult even though a rebound can happen any time. Financials will be relatively resilient in the present market setting," said market analysts.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 2,261 crore on October 21, while domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 3,225 crore on the same day.