Falling for the fourth straight day, benchmark Sensex tanked 1,017 points to close at a two-week low on Friday due to selling in IT, oil & gas and PSU bank shares triggered by weak global trends and foreign fund outflows.
The 30-share BSE Sensex tumbled 1,017.23 points or 1.24 per cent to settle at 81,183.93, the lowest closing level since August 23.
As many as 24 Sensex shares closed in the red while six advanced.
During the day, it plunged 1,219.23 points or 1.48 per cent to 80,981.93.
The NSE Nifty dropped 292.95 points or 1.17 per cent to close at 24,852.15, its third day of decline.
Among the 30 Sensex firms, State Bank of India tanked over 4 per cent. NTPC, ICICI Bank, HCL Technologies, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank and ITC were the other major laggards.
Bajaj Finance, Asian Paints, JSW Steel and Maruti were among the gainers.
"The domestic market was in panic today due to the SEBI's deadline over FIIs disclosure norm, however this is not expected to impact India's lucrativeness to FIIs in the long-term.
"Coupled with lack of new market catalysts and elevated valuations, a muted trend is expected to continue in the short-term.
“Global markets are also adopting a cautious stance ahead of the release of the US non-farm payroll data," Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services, said.
The sell-off was broad-based, with the banking and energy sectors taking the biggest hit.
Broader indices also saw declines, losing more than a per cent each.
The recent weakness in US markets has stalled the momentum in Indian markets, causing participants to become cautious ahead of the upcoming jobs data, Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd said.
In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge dropped 1.41 per cent while the BSE smallcap index declined 0.96 per cent.
All indices ended in the negative territory.
Telecommunication plunged 3.23 per cent, oil & gas (2.19 per cent), bankex (1.93 per cent), capital goods (1.70 per cent) and services (1.58 per cent).
A total of 2,541 stocks declined while 1,406 advanced and 87 remained unchanged on the BSE.
On the weekly front, the BSE benchmark dropped 1,181.84 points or 1.43 per cent while the Nifty declined 383.75 points or 1.52 per cent.
"World shares held near three-week lows on Friday, and crude oil languished near this year's lows, as caution prevailed ahead of the crucial US jobs data that could decide the size and speed of coming rate cuts in the world's largest economy," said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.
In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong settled lower.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 688.69 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.14 per cent to $72.79 a barrel.
"The near-term trend in the market will be influenced by the US jobs data to be published tonight," said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist, Geojit Financial Services.
