The Sensex ended at 18,438 down 12 points. Nifty ended down 10 points at 5,542.
On the global front, the yen tumbled and Japanese stocks soared on Monday as the Bank of Japan lost no time embarking on its ambitious stimulus drive, but US weak jobs data and regional risks such as the bird flu and North Korea weighed on other assets.
The Nikkei surged 2.8% at 13,193. Hang Seng and Taiwan Weighted however shed 0.6-2.3% each.
The BOJ conducted its first government bond buying operation on Monday since announcing monetary easing on a stunning scale, saying it will buy one trillion yen of Japanese government bonds of between five and ten years maturity, and 200 billion of bonds with maturities exceeding 10 years.
Foreign funds sold shares worth Rs 8.97 billion in previous three sessions, provisional exchange data showed. Fourth quarter earnings season, which begins with Infosys results on Friday will decide the market trend going ahead.
Industrial production numbers, which is due on Friday, may also have some impact on the trading sentiment this week as IIP data is likely to be a key input for RBI's next policy review on May 3.
Reserve Bank of India Governor D. Subbarao said Saturday, 6 April 2013, said that the high fiscal deficit is a problem because it exacerbates inflation and impedes monetary policy transmission.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will announce the Monetary Policy Statement 2013-14 on 3 May 2013.
The RBI cut its key policy rate viz. the repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.5% after a mid-quarter monetary policy review on 19 March 2013.
Back home, the rupee continued to rule firm against the American currency and was quoted at 54.59 per dollar on selling of dollars by banks and exporters.
BSE IT index slipped 1% at 6,665. The firm rupee has taken IT shares down as US is one of the key markets for Indian IT firms.
BSE Capital goods, metal and bankex were down 0.6-0.8% each.
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