The Indian equity benchmarks fell for third straight session on Friday as investor sentiment worsened further after Russian forces stuck Europe's largest nuclear power plant and took over strategic port city of Kherson. The S&P BSE Sensex fell as much as 1,215 points and Nifty 50 index dropped to an intraday low of 16,133.
The Sensex ended 769 points or 1.4 per cent lower at 54,334 and Nifty 50 index fell 253 points or 1.5 per cent to close at 16,245.
For the week, Sensex fell 2.72 per cent, Nifty dropped 2.48 per cent and Nifty Bank index crashed 5.55 per cent.
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Russians captured the southern city of Kherson, a vital Black Sea port of 280,000. Ukrainian officials confirmed the takeover of the government headquarters there, making it the first major city to fall since the invasion began.
A Russian air strike Thursday also destroyed the power plant in Okhtyrka, leaving the city without heat or electricity, the head of the region said.
A livestreamed security camera linked from the homepage of Ukraine’s largest power plant showed what appeared to be armored vehicles rolling into the facility’s parking lot and shining spotlights on the building late Thursday. The AP also verified video shot by a resident in the area that showed bright flaring objects landing in the grounds of the nuclear plant.
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Back home, selling pressure was broad-based as all the 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange, barring the measure of information technology shares, ended lower led by the Nifty Auto index's over 3.5 per cent fall. Nifty Metal, Bank, Financial Services, Media, PSU Bank, Private Bank, Realty and Consumer Durable indices also fell between 1.5-3.2 per cent.
Broader markets also came under selling pressure as Nifty Midcap 100 index crashed 2 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index declined 1.8 per cent.
Titan was top Nifty loser, the stock tumbled 5.2 per cent to close at Rs 2,440. Maruti Suzuki, Asian Paints, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Coal India, JSW Steel, Hindustan Unilever, Hindalco, Axis Bank and Bajaj Finance also fell between 3-4.75 per cent.
On the flipside, Dr Reddy's Labs, Tech Mahindra, ITC, Bharat Petroleum, Sun Pharma, Wipro, Infosys and HCL Technologies were among the notable gainers.
The overall market breadth was negative as 2,127 shares ended lower while 1,227 closed higher on the BSE.
