The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex fell by nearly 205 points in opening trade on Friday. The 30-share index, which lost 738 points in the previous two sessions, dropped further by 204 points, or 1.25 per cent, to 16,156 in the first few minutes of trade on Friday. All the sectoral indices, led by metal, realty, banking and auto stocks, were in the red, dragging the Sensex near the crucial 16,000 points mark. The wide-based National Stock Exchange Nifty index also plunged by 61 points, or 1.25 per cent, to 4,862. Brokers attributed the widespread losses to continued selling by funds and retail investors, triggered by a weakening trend on other Asian bourses following overnight losses in the US and European markets as prospects of a global recession continued to unnerve investors. In the Asian region, Japan's Nikkei index was trading 2.07 per cent lower, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index ended 1.83 per cent lower in early trade on Friday. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 3.51 per cent lower on Thursday.