Falling for the third straight day, the Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange declined 48 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 29,414, on Monday. The Sensex had gained 33 points at the day's high, and shed 98 points at the day's low. The Sensex has now lost over 370 points in three trading sessions. The Nifty at the National Stock Exchange fell 12 points, or 0.1 percent, to 9,139. But the broader market outperformed, with the BSE Midcap index rising 0.3 percent and the Smallcap index gaining 0.5 percent.

 Market breadth was positive on the BSE. Total turnover on the BSE's cash segment amounted to 3,476 crore rupees. 

At the forex market, the rupee depreciated 11 paise, to 64.52 against the dollar. 

Key Asian markets ended mixed, today, amid somewhat weak U.S. economic data. So Japan's Nikkei-225 index rose 0.1 percent; and South Korea's Kospi index added 0.5 percent. But Singapore's Straits Times index slipped 1 percent; Hong Kong's Hang Seng index shed 0.2 percent; and China's Shanghai Composite index fell 0.8 percent. A raft of Chinese economic data beat market expectations but did not produce notable market reactions. China's economy grew 6.9 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, slightly above expectations. 

In Europe, stock markets in the UK, Germany and France remained closed for a public holiday.Inflation based on the wholesale price index slipped to 5.7 per cent in March this year. Wholesale Inflation fell as inflation in manufactured goods eased, although food prices hardened.

Wholesale inflation, or WPI had stood at 6.55 per cent in February this year, and at minus 0.45 per cent in March last year. According to official data, food inflation rose to 3.12 per cent in March, from 2.69 per cent in February. This was mainly due to wholesale inflation in vegetables climbing to 5.7 per cent. But fuel inflation declined to 18.16 per cent in March, from 21.02 per cent in February. Wholesale inflation in manufactured items dropped to 2.99 per cent in March, from 3.66 per cent in February. 

Gold fell 50 rupees, to 29,900 rupees per ten grams at Delhi's bullion market, today, on poor demand from jewelers. Silver slipped 50 rupees, to 42,950 rupees per kilo, on lower off-take. Silver coins held steady, at 72,000 rupees for buying 100 pieces.

Overseas, gold rose 0.1 per cent, to 1,289 dollars  anounce. Silver gained 0.2 per cent, to 18.56 dollars an ounce.

Global crude oil prices fell, today, on signs that the United States is continuing to add output, largely counteracting strong economic growth in China, and OPEC efforts to cut production.

Brent crude oil futures dropped 53 cents, to 55.36 dollars a barrel. U.S. crude fell 46 cents, to 52.72 dollars a barrel. Both benchmarks had risen last week for a third consecutive week.

Some analysts said all the signs of an ever-growing bull market are starting to fade away. U.S. drillers last week added rigs for a 13th straight week, a sign that output gains there will continue.

Energy services firm Baker Hughes said drillers added 11 oil rigs in the week to April 13, bringing the count up to 683, the highest in about two years.  U.S. crude oil output has climbed to 9.24 million barrels per day, making it the world's third-largest producer after Russia and Saudi Arabia. 

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