The B S E benchmark Sensex lost over 167 points points in the opening trade on Friday, on sustained selling by funds and retail investors amid weak trend on the other Asian bourses.

The 30-share barometer, which has lost almost 740 points in the previous three sessions, fell by 167.79 points or 0.87 per cent to 19,074.57, with consumer durables, banking and realty sector stocks remaining under pressure.

Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty declined by 45.35 points or 0.78 per cent to 5,721.15 points.

Brokers attributed the continuing downslide in bourses to large scale sell-offs by funds and retail investors on weak Asian markets and domestic fears of interest rate hike following a marginal (0.09 per cent) rise in food inflation for the week ended Nov 27.

Besides, share off-loading by participants in view of approaching year-end and ongoing investigation into 2G spectrum allotment scam also dampened the trading sentiments.

In other markets in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was trading lower by 0.14 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei shed 0.43 per cent in early trade on Friday.

In the US, Dow Jones Industrial Average ended marginally down by 0.02 per cent in Thursday’s trade.