First Trading Session of the Week Closes in Red

The markets closed in the red for the first trading day of the week in line with the Asian and European peers 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 45 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%. 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, due to the marginal decline in the inflation for the month of April as compared to March the markets recovered losses partially.According to the inflation data, inflation for the month of April saw a marginal decline at 8.66% versus 9.04% reported in March. Among the sectoral indices, the shares of rate-sensitive banking and real estate companies  dipped more than 1% each on concerns of further interest rate hikes to control the rising inflation. Of the 2,899 stocks traded on the BSE today, 1,059 advanced, while 1,695 declined, making the market breadth negative.