The losing streak retuned on the Indian bourses Thursday, after the pullback rally seen earlier day. The weakness was expected, as Wednesdays rebound was more due short-covering ahead of May F&O series expiry today. Europe and Asian markets too were lower.

Most of the short covering in index heavyweights Wednesday was on relatively low volumes, indicating that the strength wont sustain for too long. Moreover, the rollovers were on the short-side, said Neeraj Agarwal, analyst, Institutional Equities - Derivatives, Karvy Stock Broking.

The Sensex was down 20.50 points or 0.13 per cent at 16,367.34. The Bombay Stock Exchanges 30-share index opened marginally higher at 16,410.88 against the previous close of 16,387.84. The index moved between a high of 16,442.61 and low of 16,331.10 in the early minutes.

Nifty was at 4905.00, down 12.4 points or 0.25 per cent. The National Stock Exchanges benchmark opened slightly lower at 4915.15 versus the earlier close of 4917.40. The 50-share index moved between 4927.95 and 4897.60.