The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex fell by nearly 48 points in opening trade today on continued selling by foreign funds and retail investors amid concerns over high interest rates and weak cues from other Asian markets. The 30-share barometer, which lost over 444 points in the previous two sessions, fell further to 17,545.04 points in the first few minutes of trade today. The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty, however, was trading 3 points higher at 5,257 points. Meanwhile, in other Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 0.70 per cent in early trade.