The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Thursday fell by over 150 points ahead of the release of inflation data amid weak international trend as oil prices firmed up globally.

The 30-share Sensex, which spurted by 550 points in Wednesday's trading, fell 150.76 points, or 1 percent at 14,899.10.

It touched the intra-day low of 14,766.01 points and high of 14,994.15 points.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty also fell 56.25 points at 4,447.75.

Marketmen said selling pressure picked up ahead of the weekly inflation data amid weak trends in global markets.

A rebound in global crude oil prices to $110 a barrel level mainly pulled down refinery stocks and oil and gas index by 181.31 points at 9,844.65.

The sectoral stocks led by Reliance Industries and ONGC remained weak on heavy selling. However, Aban Offshore surged by Rs 112.10 at Rs 2,214.95 and averted any major fall in the index.

Metal index suffered the most by falling 198.75 points at 12,182.90 on heavy selling on speculation the metal producers might hike prices.

Realty index fell by 171.55 points at 5195.72 followed by capital goods segment which recorded a loss of 115.06 at 12,188.18 as segment majors Larsen and Toubro, BHEL, Areva and Seimens India.

PSU sector index fell by 51.32 points at 6971.43, consumer durable index by 28.58 points at 3799.80, banking index by 11.79 points at 7,434.73, power index by 30.82 points at 2,655.59, FMCG index by 43.46 points at 2,212.58 and Tech index by 3.53 points at 3127.55.

As the market turned bearish, the smallcap index fell by 8.02 points at 6,974.37 and midcap index by 7.84 points at 5,829.17.

However, Information Technology sector bucked the general weak trend and rose by 18.77 points at 4,085.70 as dollar remained firm against leading currencies, raising hopes of better revenue for software exporting companies.

Indian software companies receive more than 50 percent of their revenues from the US markets.

Healthcare index rose by 11.95 points at 4350.18 and Auto index by 3.38 points at 4,040.95.