Indian equity benchmarks finished a choppy session lower on Friday, extending losses to the third day in a row, as heightened geopolitical tensions rattled global markets. Ukrainian authorities said Russian forces captured the Zaporizhzhia plant after attacking it in the early hours of Friday.

Share Market Live

NSE

Gains in heavyweights such as ITC, Dr Reddy's and Tech Mahindra, however, helped the headline indices trim their intraday losses.

The 30-scrip index finished the day down 768.9 points or 1.4 percent at 54,333.8 and the broader Nifty50 benchmark settled at 16,245.4, down 252.7 points or 1.5 percent from its previous close. Both headline indices fell as much as 2.2 percent during the session.

Titan, Maruti Suzuki, Asian Paints, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Motors, M&M and Coal India -- closing between 3.8 percent and 5.2 percent lower -- were the top blue-chip laggards. On the other hand, Dr Reddy's, ITC, Tech Mahindra, BPCL and UltraTech -- up between one percent and 2.9 percent -- rose the most among the 10 gainers in the Nifty50 basket.

Reliance Industries, HDFC, ICICI Bank and Hindustan Unilever were the biggest contributors to the fall in both main indices.

"Rising oil prices along with uncertainties on supply chain disruptions have instilled fears that inflation could cross the RBI’s tolerance level, though temporarily," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services. (Key factors impacting the Street)

Oil benchmark Brent futures were up 2.3 percent at almost $113 per barrel at the last count, though off a nearly decade-high hit the previous day. The Nifty Oil & Gas index fell one percent.

The Nifty Bank closed with a cut of 1.5 percent at 34,407.8, having gyrated in a range of more than 1,000 points during the session. HDFC Bank declined 0.3 percent for the day, though off a 52-week low hit during the session.

SBI, IndusInd, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, and Kotak Mahindra dropped around 1-3 percent.

The Nifty IT eked out a gain of 0.1 percent.

Broader markets also weakened, with the Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 indices losing around two percent each.

In the midcap and smallcap segments, Hitachi Energy, MCX, Carborundum, Indoco Remedies and Schneider -- ending 4.3-7 percent lower -- were among the top losers. Chalet Hotels, Kalyan Jewellers, Intellect Design, Ujjivan Financial and CEAT -- rusing 3.5-12.3 percent -- were among the gainers.

Globally, European shares began the day weaker as investors rushed to the safety of government securities and gold amid Russia's escalating invasion of Ukraine. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was down 2.6 percent at the last count. S&P 500 futures were down 0.8 percent, suggesting a weak start ahead on Wall Street.

"The markets are expected to remain tricky in the short term so caution is warranted. Over the weekend, the main focus will be on news related to the Russia-Ukraine war as further escalation would result in continued pressure in the coming week," said Ajit Mishra, VP- Research at Religare Broking.

"Rising crude oil is a headache for our economy and related sectors are already under tremendous pressure," said Mishra, who suggests investors to remain selective and look for fundamentally sound pockets.

Technical outlook

"The overall structure shows that the Nifty is trading near multiple support levels and can stage a recovery as long as it stays above 16,200-16,100 levels on a closing basis," said Gaurav Ratnaparkhi, Head of Technical Research at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.

Catch highlights of the March 3 session with CNBCTV18.com's blog