The Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange fell 71 points, to 16,928 in opening trade, on Thursday morning, on profit-booking by investors. Losing further ground, the Sensex stood 136 points, or 0.8 percent in the red, at 16,863, a short while ago. The Nifty at the National Stock Exchange lost 42 points, or 0.8 percent, to 5,013. Stock markets in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan were down by between 0.1 percent and 1.3 percent, while the bourses in South Korea, Singapore and China were up by between 0.3 percent and 1.4 percent.