Markets sink for 3rd day as Ukraine war drags, Sensex falls 769 points

Mumbai: The Sensex and Nifty lurched lower for the third day running on Friday, in lockstep with global equities, as risk-off sentiment prevailed amid Russia stepping up its military offensive against Ukraine.

A depreciating rupee, elevated oil prices and heavy selling by foreign investors also contributed to the decline, traders said.

The 30-share BSE Sensex opened weak and slumped over 1,200 points to the day's low of 53,887.72, before recouping some losses to close at 54,333.81, down by 768.87 points or 1.40 per cent.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty slumped 252.70 points or 1.53 per cent to end at 16,245.35.

Titan, Maruti Suzuki, Asian Paints, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindustan Unilever, Bajaj Finance and Axis Bank were the biggest drags on the Sensex, tumbling up to 5.05 per cent.

In contrast, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, ITC, Tech Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, Sun Pharma and Wipro were among the gainers, spurting as much as 2.95 per cent.

All BSE sectoral indices finished lower, with auto, metal, consumer discretionary goods and services, consumer durables and realty taking the biggest hit, tanking as much as 3.40 per cent.

The rupee slumped 23 paise to close at 76.17 against the US dollar on Friday.