Friday's fall in the market meant fourth straight weekly losses for Indian equity benchmarks, dragged by deep cuts in financial and automobile shares, as the Russia-Ukraine war sent shockwaves across the globe. This is the longest losing streak of weekly losses for both Sensex and Nifty50 in the past two years.

Share Market Live

NSE

A weekly cut of 2,023 points or 5.6 percent made it the worst week for the Nifty Bank in as many as 18 months.

For the week ended March 4,the 30-scrip index shed 1,524.7 points or 2.7 percent, and the broader Nifty50 benchmark lost 413.1 points or 2.5 percent.

Broader markets also weakened, with the Nifty Midcap 100 index dropping 1.6 percent Its smallcap counterpart slipped 0.4 percent.

ALSO

READ: Key factors impacting Dalal Street now

News updates on the Ukraine crisis remained on investors' radar throughout a week that saw crude oil surging in anticipation of an undersupply. Brent futures hitting almost $120 per barrel -- the highest in nearly a decade.

"Rising oil prices along with uncertainties of supply chain disruptions have instilled fears of inflation crossing the RBI’s tolerance level... Q3FY22 GDP numbers were below market expectations," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

The India VIX -- also known as the fear index -- settled close to the 28 level, having surged to a 20-month high of almost 34 last week as Russia invaded Ukraine.

Back home, official data released showed India's economy expanded by a slowed-than-expected 5.4 percent in the quarter ended December 2021. Economists in a CNBC-TV18 poll had pegged the quarterly GDP growth at 5.7 percent.

Among NSE's sectoral indices, the Nifty Auto took the biggest hit, finishing the week 9.2 percent lower. The Nifty Private Bank, PSU Bank and Financial Services gauges plunged around 3-6 percent.

On the other side of the flatline was the Nifty Metal, clocking a weekly gain of seven percent.

"Metal stocks rallied due to an increase in steel prices led by supply constraints in Russia and Ukraine, benefitting Indian steelmakers in the export market," Nair added.

The Nifty Oil & Gas and IT barometres rose around 2-4 percent.

The 50-scrip benchmark saw an equal number of shares in the red and green zones.

On the NSE 500 -- the bourse's broadest index, about 150 stocks took weekly cuts.

In the midcap and smallcap segments, Kajaria Ceramics, Carborundum, Varroc Engineering, Indoco Remedies and IFB Industries -- falling 4.8-15 percent -- were the biggest losers. On the other hand, Jindal Stainless, Hitachi Energy, GNFC, Ujjivan Financial and Advanced Enzyme -- up 16.6-20.3 percent -- were the top gainers.

FIIs net sold Indian shares worth Rs 22,563.11 crore in the four-day trading week, though DIIs made net purchases of Rs 16,742.7 crore, provisional exchange data shows.