•Indian equity benchmarks ended sharply lower on Friday, with the BSE Sensex plunging over 1,000 points.
•The 30-share Sensex closed at 78,918.90, down 1,097 points or 1.37 percent, after hitting an intraday low of 78,812.18.
•The broader Nifty 50 settled at 24,450.45, down 315.45 points or 1.27 percent, slipping below 24,500.
•Heavy selling in banking and financial stocks, including ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finserv, and Bajaj Finance, weighed on investor sentiment.
•Bharat Electronics Limited, Reliance Industries, NTPC Limited, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, and Infosys were among the few gainers.
