The Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange today fell by 204 points in early trade as funds and retail investors trimmed positions. The fall was attributed to the recent political crisis. The 30-share index, which had lost 46.30 points in the previous session on Tuesday, fell by 204 points to 18,291.93 with stocks of metals, capital goods, auto and realty sectors leading the fall. The markets remained closed yesterday for "Ganesh Chaturthi".In a similar fashion, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty dropped by 65 points to 5,534.90.In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell by 0.43 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei Index shed 0.70 per cent in themorning trade today. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.10 per cent higher in yesterday's trade.