The Sensex which declined by nearly 25 points in early trade, later fell 36 points to 19, 653. Similarly, the Nifty at the National Stock Exchange fell by 16 points to 5,971. In the Asian region, Japan's Nikkei Index was down 0.38 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index shed 0.40 per cent in early trade. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.38 per cent down in yesterday's trade.