Mumbai:In a volatile trade, the benchmark Sensex maintained its decline in early trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange today and recorded a loss of over 164 points on selling by funds.

After two days of sharp decline on the stock markets, the 30-share index, Sensex, plunged by 164.64 points at 12830,38 in first one hour of trading.

In last three trading sessions the Sensex dropped by over 975 points as heavyweight banking, capital goods and auto stocks suffered heavy losses on profit booking.

Similarly, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) index Nifty fell by 59.25 points at 3,657.65.

The government, however, seemed undeterred about the abnormal market behaviour and high volatility, stating that there was no cause for worry and the correction was perhaps inevitable.