The B S E benchmark Sensex fell by almost 155 points in the opening trade Wednesday, amid profit-booking and a weak trend in the Asian region.

The 30-share barometer that had shed 46.67 points in the Tuesday session, declined further by 154.38 points or 0.77 per cent to 19,780.26 points Wednesday, with all the sectoral indices trading in negative zone.

Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty also lost by 35.25 points or 0.58 per cent to trade at 5,941.30 level.

Stock brokers said weakening trend on the other Asian bourses and fears of a fuel hike after crude oil prices soared to a 26-month high in global markets, dampened the trading sentiments.

In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was trading 0.79 per cent low, while Japan’s Nikkei was marginally up by 0.81 per cent in the early trade Wednesday.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.03 points down in the Tuesday’s trade.