New Delhi, 06 March (H.S.): Investor sentiment soured amid West Asia tensions, causing Indian stock markets to close sharply lower on Friday, the final trading day of the week. The Sensex tumbled 1,097 points, while the Nifty fell 315 points.The Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share benchmark Sensex plunged 1,097 points, or 1.37 percent, to settle at 78,918.90. It hit an intraday low of 78,812.18 after dropping 1,203.72 points. Similarly, the National Stock Exchange's Nifty shed 315.45 points, or 1.27 percent, closing at 24,450.45.

Major Sensex constituents like ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finserv, and Larsen & Toubro saw significant declines. In contrast, Reliance Industries, Bharat Electronics, Sun Pharma, NTPC, Infosys, and HCL Tech registered gains.

Other Asian markets bucked the trend: South Korea's Kospi, Japan's Nikkei, China's Shanghai Composite, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed higher.

European markets traded lower in afternoon sessions.Experts attribute the pressure to surging crude oil prices and sustained foreign investor selling. Brent crude jumped 2.53 percent to $87.57 per barrel amid escalating West Asia crisis.

Markets had closed green on Thursday, with Sensex gaining 899.71 points (1.14%) at 80,015.90 and Nifty rising 285.40 points (1.17%) to 24,765.90.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar