The Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange today declined by 135 points in early trade after the International Monetary Fund lowered its projection of India's growth rate. The 30-share index, which had gained 88 points in the previous sessions, fell by 135.16 points to 19,848 with banking, realty, consumer durables, capital goods and oil and gas sector stocks coming under pressure. The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty shed 50.20 points to 5,878. In the Asian region, Japan's Nikkei was up by 0.44 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index shed 0.62 per cent in early trade. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1.07 per cent lower yesterday.