Mumbai: Equity indices surrendered mid-session gains to close lower for the third day in a row on Friday as participants remained cautious amid geopolitical uncertainties in eastern Europe.
Persistent selling by foreign investors and expectations of policy tightening by global central banks kept sentiment muted, traders said.
After swinging about 700 points between gains and losses, the BSE Sensex finally closed 59.04 points or 0.10 per cent lower at 57,832.97.
On similar lines, the NSE Nifty edged lower by 28.30 points or 0.16 per cent to settle at 17,276.30.
The Sensex was dragged lower by mainly Ultratech Cement, M&M, Infosys, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finance and Nestle -- dropping as much as 1.88 per cent.
In contrast, HDFC topped the gainers' chart with a jump of 1.25 per cent, followed by L&T, Axis Bank, SBI, Dr Reddy's, Kotak Bank and HDFC Bank. On the index, 17 shares closed in the negative zone.
On a weekly basis, the Sensex lost 319.95 points or 0.55 per cent and the Nifty fell 98.45 points or 0.56 per cent.
Sectorally, realty, oil and gas, basic materials, healthcare and energy indices were major the losers — dropping as much as 1.23 per cent on Friday.
Of the 19 sectoral indices, 16 closed in the red. Broader smallcap, midcap and largecap indices fell up to 0.80 per cent.
Asian markets were mixed as investors weighed renewed US warnings of an imminent Russian attack on Ukraine. However, bourses in Europe were trading modestly higher in the afternoon session.
Crude oil benchmark Brent futures dropped 2.19 per cent to trade at 90.93 per barrel.
The rupee appreciated by 40 paise to 74.66 against the US dollar on Friday.
Foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth a net Rs 1,242.10 crore in the Indian capital markets on Thursday, exchange data showed.