Continuing to slide for the third straight day, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Thursday fell by another 104 points in early trade following weak trends in the overseas bourses.
Also, profit-taking by retail investors in select counters after recent gains put some pressure on the stock prices.
Banking and technology sector stocks were mainly under pressure, dragging the Sensex down.
The 30-share Sensex, which had lost over 166 points in the past two sessions, dipped 104.01 points to 17,370.48 in opening trade.
The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty dipped below 5,200 points to trade 30.20 points down at 5,191.50.
Brokers said sentiments on the domestic market turned weak in line with subdued global markets on reports of China’s plans to curb lending policy further after hiking the CRR rate last week. Market men said investors were worried that the China move will put the recovery of world markets on a back foot once again.
Besides, profit booking by retail investors in select counters at prevailing prices, also attributed fall in stock prices, they added.
Among major losers were Reliance Industries down by 0.41 per cent to Rs 1,073.30, Infosys Technologies by 0.04 per cent to Rs 2,651.90, State Bank of India by 0.33 per cent to Rs 2,152.65, and ICICI Bank by 0.93 per cent to Rs 869.
The Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 0.99 per cent in the morning trade today, while the US Dow Jones Industrial Average had closed 1.14 per cent lower on Wednesday.
