Its pouring bad news on Dalal Street. Inflation shows no sign of yielding, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor YV Reddy has hinted at further hike in interest rates. And on Friday, DLF shares closed below its issue price of Rs 525.

Market participants are near unanimous that things could worsen before they get better. The lack of confidence among investors was evident from the manner in which shares quickly gave up their gains to end over 1% lower, despite the steady trend in global markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 15,572.18, down 197.54, or 1.25%, after gaining nearly 200 points at one point during the day. The 50-share Nifty closed at 4627.80, down 49.15 points, or 1%.

Amitabh Chakraborty, president, equities, Religare Securities, says that macro-fundamentals have deteriorated significantly and the market may see a further downside. "I expect the inflation to breach 10% by the end of this month. Foreign money is unlikely to come to India in the present market condition," he says.

Data released by the government on Friday revealed WPI-based index at 8.24% for the week ended May 24 compared with 8.1% in the previous week. With fuel prices having been raised earlier this week, market watchers expect inflation to shoot up further, as higher freight costs are likely to push up prices of essential commodities.

Global equity markets were firm early on, but surrendered a major part of their gains, following a renewed spike in crude oil prices.

Concerns that the US dollar could weaken further, resulted in the crude oil price rising to $127 a barrel. Among key Asian markets, Japanese shares ended around 1% lower, while those in Taiwan, Korea and Singapore ended the day flat.