Indian shares plunged on Friday, tracking a global selloff in equities as growing concerns over a trade war between the U.S. and China sapped risk appetite.
On Friday, the benchmark Sensex ended down 409 points, or 1.24 percent, at 32,596 and the Nifty fell 116 points, or 1.15 percent, at 9,998.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped to the lowest since November on worries escalation in trade war could throttle global growth.
Analysts had already been bracing for the possibility of a pullback in domestic stocks and technicals suggest further market correction could be in the offing next week.
According to Sharekhan's technical analyst Ratnaparkhi, various momentum indicators are in sync with bearish price action and are suggesting that the fall is far from over.
Ratnaparkhi expects Nifty may fall towards the 9,830-9,800 range owing to the current weakness.
The futures and options expiry for March contracts on Thursday will also result in increased market volatility.
Trading week will be truncated as Indian stock markets will remain shut on Thursday and Friday for public holidays.
On the currency front, the Indian rupee closed at one-week high against the U.S. dollar.
The partially convertible rupee ended at 65.01 on Friday, up 0.16 percent from its previous close of 65.11.
So far this year, the rupee weakened 1.7 percent, while foreign investors have bought $1.7 billion in equity and sold $84 million in debt market.
Here's what to watch in the coming days.
Lemon Tree IPO
The initial public offer (IPO) of Lemon Tree Hotels will open on 26 March 2018 and close on 28 March 2018. The company has fixed IPO price band of Rs 54 to Rs 56 per share.
Trade war
If trade war worries between the world's two largest economies, the United States and China, weren't enough to spook the markets, the two sides are clashing against each other in the South China Sea again.
Meanhwile Donald Trump has just signalled another U.S. government shutdown after signing $1.3 trillion spending bill on Friday.
Europe weighs
Euro zone and UK business confidence data due out next week will either inflame or soothe concerns that the region's economic momentum may be starting to wane.
UK's final Q4 gross domestic product data will be declared on Thursday.
U.S. data
On the global front, U.S. final Q4 gross domestic product data will be unveiled on Wednesday. The U.S. economy advanced an annualized 2.5 percent on quarter in the last three months of 2017, below an advance reading of 2.6 percent and 3.2 percent in the previous period.
