Sensex continues downward trend; Nifty breaks below 8,500-mark

Mumbai: Continuing its downward trend, the BSE Sensex fell about 81 points and the NSE Nifty broke below the 8,500-mark in early trade on Thursday amid weak global cues.

Sentiment remained downbeat due to sustained selling by foreign funds and retail investors on the domestic bourses.

The 30-share barometer declined 80.91 points or 0.29 percent to 27,446.31, with sectoral indices led by IT, teck, auto and infrastructure accounting for much of the losses, falling by up to 0.43 percent.

The index had lost 414.29 points in the previous three sessions.

Also, the NSE Nifty was trading lower by 24.40 points or 0.28 percent at 8,489.60.

Brokers said steady capital outflow by foreign funds and a weak trend at other Asian markets with uncertainty over the US presidential election sending investors rushing for the sidelines, kept the domestic bourses here on a sticky wicket.

Shares of ONGC, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, Wipro, Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma, M&M and Infosys witnessed selling pressure, which pulled down the indices.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.42 percent while Shanghai Composite declined 0.19 percent in early trade today. Japanese financial markets are closed for a 'public holiday'.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.43 percent down yesterday even as the Federal Reserve kept the benchmark interest rate at the same level where it has been since December 2015.