Sensex down by 109 points, Nifty slips below 8,500

Mumbai: The benchmark BSE Sensex stretched its losses for the third day today, declining over 109 points in early trade on sustained selling by investors amid weak global cues. The NSE Nifty fell below the 8,500-mark to trade at 8,498.65 points, down by 30.80 points, or 0.36 per cent over previous close.

The 30-share Sensex fell further by 109.20 points, or 0.38 per cent, to 28,072.94 with IT, metal, teck, banking, capital goods and power stocks leading the fall. The gauge lost 281.17 points in the previous two consecutive sessions.

Brokers said investors indulged in selling after a weak trend at other Asian markets following overnight sell-off at the US markets on corporate earnings concern. They said even better-than-expected first quarter earnings by some companies failed to boost domestic stock markets.

In other Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 0.53 per cent while Japan's Nikkei shed 1.25 per cent in early trade today. The US Dow Jones sank 1 per cent yesterday.