The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Thursday fell by around 70 points as funds and retail investors indulged in booking profits amid weak Asian markets.
The Sensex, which had lost 51.87 points in Wednesday’s choppy trade, moved further down by 70.68 points to 16,928.10 in early trade.
The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty also drifted by 18.65 points to 5,036.05.
Brokers said, besides continued profit booking by funds and retail investors, weak trends at other Asian bourses, which were down up to 1.5 per cent in early trade on Thursday, put pressure on the sentiments here.
Major losers were ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, DLF LTd, Larsen and Toubro, Bharti Airtel and Jaiprakash Associates on continued profit-taking.
However, Reliance Industries, Reliance Capital, Tata Steel and Sterlite Industries were in better shape on selective buying by funds.
