Equities tumble nearly 2%; Sensex settles below 60k

Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended in the red.

Equity benchmarks tumbled nearly 2% on Friday in tandem with weak Asian market trends as investors sentiment remained muted in view of the COVID-19 surge in some countries.

The 30-share BSE Sensex continued to remain under selling pressure for the fourth day running and slumped 980.93 points or 1.61% to settle at 59,845.29. During the day, it tanked 1,060.66 points or 1.74% to 59,765.56.

On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty dropped 320.55 points or 1.77% to end at 17,806.80.

From the Sensex pack, Tata Steel plunged nearly 5 per cent. Other major laggards were Tata Motors, State Bank of India, Bajaj Finserv, Reliance Industries, Wipro, IndusInd Bank, Larsen & Toubro and Maruti Suzuki.

Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended in the red.

Equity exchanges in Europe were trading in the positive territory in mid-session deals. The U.S. markets had ended sharply lower on Thursday.

"Markets plunged sharply lower and lost about two per cent, in continuation to the prevailing corrective trend," said Ajit Mishra, VP - Technical Research, Religare Broking Ltd.

International oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1.89% to $82.51 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned buyers as they bought shares worth a net ₹928.63 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.