Mumbai - The benchmark BSE Sensex tumbled over 258 points to 27,572.70 and the NSE Nifty slumped by 74.15 points to trade below 8,300-mark in early trade on Thursday on sustained foreign fund outflows, tracking weak global cues amid plunging crude prices.

The 30-share index fell by 258.40 points, or 0.92 per cent, to 27,572.70, with all the sectoral indices led by capital goods, realty, auto, metal and PSU trading in the negative zone.

The gauge had gained 34.09 points in yesterday's volatile trade.

Also, the National Stock Exchange index Nifty shed 74.15 points, or 0.88 per cent, to 8,281.50 in early trade.

Brokers said a weak trend on other Asian bourses, tracking overnight losses on US markets after a pullback in petroleum stocks sparked a selloff, mainly dampened trading sentiment here.

Meanwhile, Brent for January settlement dropped by USD 2.60 to a fresh five-year low of USD 64.24 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in yesterday's trade.

In addition, depreciating rupee which weakened by 15 paise to over one-week low of 62.17 against the dollar also had negative impact, they said.

Among other Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei shed 1.33 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.08 per cent in early trade today. (PTI)