The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex shed over 38 points in early trade on Thursday. Sensex was trading at 17090, down by over 7 points when reports last came in. Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty dipped by over 5 points to 5,112 points. Brokers said emergence of profit taking by funds as well as retailers and mixed trend on other Asian markets mainly dampened the trading sentiments. Japan's Nikkei up 0.89 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 0.45 per cent in the morning trade on Thursday.