Mumbai, Sept 18: Snapping a nine-day long rally, the BSE benchmark Sensex today fell by over 61 points in early trade as funds and retail investors indulged in profit-booking at prevailing higher levels amid weak trend in Asian markets.
The 30-share index fell by 61.35 points, or 0.30 per cent, to 18,480.96 with stocks of metal, auto and banking sectors leading the fall.
Sensex had gained over 1,230 points in the previous nine sessions to touch 14-month high on the back of broad-based buying by funds and retail investors, triggered by the government decisions to accelerate economic reforms by allowing FDI in organised retail and aviation, among others.
Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty declined by 23.55 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 5,586.45.
Brokers said besides profit-booking by speculators after recent significant gains, a weak trend on Asian bourses mainly influenced the trading sentiment here.
In Asian region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell by 0.17 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei Index shed 0.04 per cent in the morning trade today.
The US Dow Jones Industrial Average had ended 0.30 per cent lower in yesterday's trade.
