After touching fresh lows in the late morning session, the markets recovered losses partially, but were still trading in the red, with inflation numbers adding further pressure on the markets.
The Sensex shed 141 points at 18,391, while the Nifty, at 5,511, slipped 34 points.
Inflation for 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 infaltion 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.
Mahindra & Mahindra was the top loser on the Sensex down 3% at Rs 671, while Jaiprakash Associates at Rs 85 and Hindalco Industries at Rs 193 shed 2.5% each. Reliance Infra, ONGC, HDFC and ITC slpped 2% each.
On the other hand, Bharti Airtel at Rs 373 up 2%,Hero Honda at Rs 1,822 and BHEL at Rs 2,052 both up 1% were the top gainers on the Sensex. TCS and Hindustan Unilever added about 0.5% each.
The broader markets were flat with a negative bias, with the Mid-cap index at 6,874 and the Small-cap index at 8,345.
The Healthcare index added 1% at 6,208, and was the only sectoral index trading in the green.
Rate-sensitive sectors Realty and Auto declined more than 1% each at 2,154 and 9,124 respectively. The Metal counter was off 1% at 15,250.
With 1,007 advances and 1,404 declines, the market breadth was negative.
