The markets closed in the red for thr first trading day of the week in sync with the Asian and European markets which too were in the red for the day.
The inflation data which appears to be better than the previous month largely due to the base effects failed to make any impression on the market.
At the close, the Sensex was down 186 points at 18,345 while the Nifty shed 46 points to end at 5,499.
On the other hand, the broader markets were better off for the day. The smallcap and the midcap indices were down 0.7% as compared to the Sensex which lost 1%
Earlier in the day, tracking weak Asian peers the markets opened lower.
The Sensex attempted to move north in the first hour of trade but a bout of weakness ahead of the inflation data saw the rate sensitive realty and banking stocks dragging the markets lower.
However, because of the marginal decline in the inflation for the month of April as compared to March the markets recovered losses partially.
This recovery turned to be short lived as the BSE benchmark index slipped lower to touch the day's low of 18,333, down 173 points from the day's high in the
According to the inflation data, inflation for the month of April saw a marginal decline at 8.66% versus 9.04% reported in March.
WPI primary articles inflation stood at 12.05% versus 12.95% month-on-month, while the WPI fuel group inflation came in at 13.32% versus 12.92% reported a month ago.
Manufacturing product inflation saw a negligible decline to 6.18% versus 6.21% reported in March.
However, the prospect of rising energy costs will keep pressure on the Reserve Bank of India to raise rates in June.
This softening may prove to be a blip as the government aims to raise state-controlled prices of fuels such as diesel and cooking gas, possibly as soon as this week.
Earlier, state-run oil refiners had raised petrol prices by about 8.6%, or Rs 5 a litre ($0.11), from Sunday, a record hike that will fuel inflation in Asia's third-largest economy.
