Mumbai, May 10 - Erasing initial gains, the BSE benchmark Sensex today fell for the third straight day as it lost nearly 60 points with auto and metal stocks leading the fall amid a weakening global trend.

The Sensex, which shed 433 points in the last two sessions, fell further by 59.53 points, or 0.36 per cent to 16,420.05. It had touched a high of 16,671.81 during the day.

In the Sensex pack, 20 stocks declined, nine gained while one remain unchanged. Similarly, the broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty declined by 9.10 points, or 0.18 per cent to close below the psychological 5,000-mark at 4,965.70.

Brokers said selling pressure developed after passenger car sales in India recorded the slowest growth during April in ten years on subdued customer sentiment and high interest rates. Maruti, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Motors and Bajaj Auto fell in the 1-3 per cent range.

After Sensex gained over 150 points intra-day, the Indian markets received another jolt on weak opening in European markets amid concerns that eurozone sovereign debt crisis will deepen.

Today's downfall in the Indian stock markets was led by BSE-Metal that fell over 1 per cent and BSE-Auto sector which shed 0.9 per cent.

Metal stocks like Sterlite Industries, Hindalco, Hindustan Zinc and Tata Steel fell on reports of soft base metal prices in overseas markets. PTI