Sensex suffers more losses, slides 142 points; Nifty cracks below 7,100-mark

Mumbai: Benchmark Sensex remained on edge as it fell further by about 142 points in early trade on Wednesday, extending yesterday's fall, on sustained capital outflows by foreign funds and selling by retail investors amid subdued Asian shares.

There was caution among investors ahead of the derivatives expiry and the railway budget tomorrow.

The 30-share index, which had lost 379 points in the previous session, plunged to 23,268.29, a fall of 141.89 points, or 0.60 percent.

The NSE Nifty cracked below the 7,100-mark, by falling 47.10 points, or 0.66 percent, to 7,062.45.

All sectoral indices led by metal, bank and PSU slipped into the negative zone with a fall of up to 1.93 percent.

Brokers said market sentiment was fragile following FII pullout as Asia turned decisively weaker following lacklustre European and US economic data and a drop in oil prices.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 1.37 percent, while Japan's Nikkei shed 0.65 percent in early trade on Wednesday. Shanghai Composite was lower by 0.28 percent.

The US Dow Jones ended down by 1.14 percent in yesterday's trade.