The bears returned to Dalal Street on Friday (March 27), dragging the Indian benchmark indices 2 percent lower amid broad-based selling across sectors, continued depreciation of the rupee, and lingering uncertainty over the de-escalation of the US–Iran conflict.



Amid weak global cues, the market opened on a negative note, with the Nifty50 starting lower at 23,173.55. Selling pressure intensified as the session progressed, pulling the index down to an intraday low of 22,804.55 before it closed near the day’s low.

At close, the Sensex was down 1,690.23 points or 2.25 percent at 73,583.22, and the Nifty was down 486.85 points or 2.09 percent at 22,819.60.

Broader markets mirrored the weakness, with the Nifty Midcap index dropping 2.2% and the Smallcap index declining 1.7%.

For the week, both the BSE Sensex and Nifty50 ended 1.2% lower.

The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies fell Rs 8.97 lakh crore to Rs 422.04 lakh crore against Wednesday's Rs 431.01 lakh crore.

The Indian rupee extended its losses for a second straight session, breaching the 94-per-dollar mark for the first time. It hit a fresh record low of 94.84 during intraday trade before settling at 94.81, down 83 paise from Wednesday’s close of 93.98.

All sectoral indices closed in the red, led by sharp losses in PSU banks and realty, which declined more than 3% each. Auto, consumer durables, capital goods, and private banks fell 2% each.

Among Nifty constituents, top losers included Shriram Finance, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, InterGlobe Aviation, Reliance Industries, and Bajaj Finance, while ONGC, TCS, Wipro, Bharti Airtel, and Coal India were among the few gainers.

More than 900 stocks touched their 52-week low, including Sterling Wilson, Network 18, Aegis Vopak, Sapphire Foods, TMPV, IDBI Bank, Lodha Developer, Concord Biotech, GSFC, Amara Raja, Bajaj Housing, Sonata, Zensar Tech, Gillette India, Hindustan Aeron, Gujarat Gas, IGL, among others.