The Indian equity benchmarks fell for third straight session on Friday dragged by weakness in information technology, pharma and consumer durable shares. The Sensex fell as much as 495 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday low of 17,077. For most part of the day, benchmarks traded lower and extended losses in afternoon deals. However, buying at lower levels in the last 30 minutes of trading helped benchmarks stage partial recovery.
The Sensex fell 233 points to close at 57,362 and Nifty 50 index declined 70 points to settle at 17,153.
Investors lightened their positions ahead of the weekend as they assess the ongoing geopolitical developments between Russia and Ukraine, analysts said.
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Meanwhile, the US and European Union on Friday announced a new partnership to reduce the continent's reliance on Russian energy, the start of a years-long initiative to further isolate Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine.
As part of the plan, the US and other nations will increase liquified natural gas exports to Europe by 15 billion cubic metres this year, the White House said, adding that even larger shipments would be delivered in the future, news agency AP reported.
Back home, ten of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty Consumer Durable index's nearly 2 per cent fall. Nifty Pharma, Healthcare, IT, FMCG and Auto indices also fell between 0.6-1 per cent.
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On the other hand, PSU Bank, Realty and Oil & Gas shares witnessed buying interest.
Mid- and small-cap shares also faced selling pressure as Nifty Midcap 100 index declined 0.12 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index fell 0.5 per cent.
Titan was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 3.4 per cent to close at Rs 2,530. Tech Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Indian Oil, Eicher Motors, Hero MotoCorp, Nestle India, Cipla, ONGC, Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro also fell 1-2.5 per cent.
On the flipside, Bajaj Auto, Adani Ports, State Bank of India, Reliance Industries, Asian Paints, SBI Life, Bharti Airtel, Kotak Mahindra Bank and JSW Steel were among the gainers.
The overall market breadth was negative as 2,071 shares ended lower while 1,335 closed higher on the BSE.
