The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex fell by 154 points in early trade on Thursday on sustained selling by funds and retail investors in tandem with weak Asian markets.

The 30-share barometer, which lost 113.73 points in the previous session, fell further by 154.10 points to 18,824.22 points.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty declined by 46.65 points to 5,644.40 points.

Brokers said continued offloading of positions by funds and retail investors in line with weakening Asian trend following overnight losses on the US market on disappointing earnings mainly pulled down the Sensex.

In other Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei fell by 1.13 per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down by 0.82 per cent.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.11 per cent lower on Wednesday.