Both Sensex and broader 50-scrip Nifty extended their losses from the previous three consecutive sessions and declined on Friday, owing to FII withdrawals and profit-booking.
At 10.25 a.m., Sensex traded at 58,593 points, down 0.9 per cent from the previous close of 59,464 points. It opened at 59,039 points.
Nifty traded at 17,599 points, down 0.9 per cent from the previous close of 17,757 points. It opened at 17,613 points.
Bajaj Finserv, Tech Mahindra, Coal India, Adani Ports, Bharti Airtel were some of the top losers, NSE data showed.
Top gainers during the early trade were Hindustan Unilever, Tata Consumers, Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, and Power Grid Corporation.
The three-day initial public offering (IPO) of edible oil major Adani Wilmar Ltd is making rounds in the market right now. To b opebned next week on Thursday, January 27, the company has announced a price band of ₹218-230 a share for its ₹3,600-crore initial offer.
Week's Indicators:
Outflow of foreign funds plunged India's key equity indices. As per data, FIIs sold Rs 4,679.8 crore on BSE, NSE and MSEI in the capital market segment on Thursday. Besides, global inflationary woes as well as rise in crude oil prices supported the downtrend.
Consequently, Sensex settled at 59,464 points, down 1.06 per cent or 634 points, whereas Nifty settled at 17,757 points, down 1.01 per cent or 181 points, from its previous close.
Globally, Asian stocks shrugged off Wall Street jitters after China cut interest rates to shore up flagging economic growth and Japan reported a double-digit rise in exports.
Similarly, European stocks were cautiously higher on Thursday, as investors appeared to brush off concerns about rampant inflation.
Among sectors, barring Nifty realty and metal, all sectoral indices traded on a negative note. Nifty FMCG, IT and pharma slumped the most, NSE data showed.
"The weakness seems to be driven by institutional selling. FPI selling, insipid Q3 results and rising bond yields across the globe seem to be the triggers for the Indian markets to decline over the past few days," said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.
"On a day when the Nifty fell for the third session, advance decline ratio ended in the positive. This suggests some stability in the broader markets though the frontline stocks continue to face the brunt of selling pressure from institutions. Nifty could now find support at 17,614 while 17,879 could act as a resistance in the near term," he added.
On the stocks front, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Auto, Divi's Labs, Infosys, and TCS declined the most on Thursday.
On the other hand, Power Grid Corporation, Bharti Airtel, Grasim Industries, JSW Steel, and Tata Consumers managed to survive the weak market sentiment and rose the most during the session, data showed.
