The Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange, which rose by nearly 44 points in early trade today, stood 34 points in the negative territory at 16,431 a short while ago.Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange Nifty index fell by 23 points to 4,944.In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose by 0.12 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei gained 1.10 per cent in morning trade today.The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.48 per cent higher in yesterday's trade.