Sensex down 135.98 points on extensive selling

Extending its fall for the second session, the benchmark BSE Sensex fell by another 135 points to trade at 26,417.29 on widespread losses on sustained selling by cautious investors ahead of the Bihar elections result. 

The 30-share barometer, which had lost 37.67 points on Wednesday, fell further by 101.82 points, or 0.38%, to 26,451.10. 

Also, the NSE Nifty declined by 37.80 points, or 0.47%, to 8,002.40. 

Major losers that dragged down the key indices included Vedanta Ltd, Sun pharma, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, Lupin, Tata steel, RIL, ICICI Bank and Dr Reddy. 

Investors are cautious awaiting Bihar assembly polls outcome, as also weaker-than-expected Q2 earning by some bluechip companies impacting market sentiments, brokers said. 

In Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.27%, while Japan's Nikkei rose by 1.04% in early trade. Shanghai Composite index was up 2.69%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, ended 0.28% lower in Wednesday's trade.