Indian equity benchmarks witnessed a massacre on monthly F&O expiry day, dragged down by selling in banking and financial stocks. Markets made a gap-down opening due to escalating Middle East geopolitical tensions, which entered their fifth week, as the US-Iran-Israel conflict widened amid Houthi attacks on Israel. In afternoon session, indices magnified losses and remained under heavy selling pressure influenced by weak global cues and continued foreign outflows from Indian equities. Investors also stayed cautious ahead of February year-on-year industrial and manufacturing production data due later in the day.

Some of the important factors in trade:

India’s forex reserves drop by $11.4 billion: Sentiments remained downbeat as the RBI reported an $11.413 billion drop in India’s forex reserves to $698.346 billion for the week ended March 20, largely due to a decline in gold reserves.

India’s near-term outlook remains uncertain: Traders remained cautious as the Finance Ministry flagged an uncertain near-term outlook, citing external shocks - particularly the West Asia crisis - as key downside risks due to elevated input costs and possible supply disruptions. 

FIIs offload Rs 4,367 crore worth of equities: Traders were cautious as Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 4,367.30 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

On the global front: European equity markets traded mostly in red ahead of flash inflation data from Germany due later in the day. Asian markets ended mostly in green as rising energy risks amid escalating U.S.-Iran tensions.

The BSE Sensex ended at 73583.22, down by 1690.23 points or 2.25% after trading in a range of 73534.41 and 74904.91. There were 3 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty down by 3.10%, Auto down by 2.79%, Bankex down by 2.70%, Consumer Discretionary down by 2.52% and Consumer Durables down by 2.50%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE. (Provisional)

The few gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 0.64%, TCS up by 0.45% and Power Grid up by 0.24%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 4.58%, Interglobe Aviation down by 4.29%, Bajaj Finance down by 4.02%, Eternal down by 4.00% and SBI down by 3.92% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2025, released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, showed the India’s overall unemployment rate (UR) for individuals aged 15 years and above eased slightly to 3.1 per cent in 2025 as compared to 3.2 per cent a year ago. It noted that the unemployment rate among females in the country remained unchanged at 3.1 per cent in 2025 as compared to the year-ago level, while for males it came down to 3.1 per cent in 2025 from 3.3 per cent in 2024. The survey showed in rural areas, the unemployment rate eased to 2.4 per cent in 2025 from 2.5 per cent a year earlier, while in urban areas it declined to 4.8 per cent in 2025 from 5 per cent in 2024. The female unemployment rate in rural areas remained low at 2.1 per cent, lower than the male unemployment rate in rural areas, which stood at 2.6 per cent. In urban areas, the male and female unemployment eased to 4.2 per cent and 6.4 per cent, respectively, contributed marginal decrease in overall urban UR to 4.8%.   

According to the survey, the percentage distribution of workers (in usual status) by status in employment indicates a modest shift in the composition of employment in 2025. The share of self-employment declined slightly from 57.5 per cent in 2024 to 56.2 per cent in 2025 at the overall level, with reductions observed for both male (52.9 per cent to 52 per cent) and female (66.5 per cent to 64.2 per cent). This moderation has been accompanied by an increase in the share of regular wage/salaried employment, which rose from 22.4 per cent to 23.6 per cent; the increase is visible for both male (25.4 per cent to 26.5 per cent) and female (16.6 per cent to 18.2 per cent). The share of workers engaged in casual labour has remained broadly stable at around one-fifth of total employment (20.0% in 2024 to 20.2% in 2025), with only marginal variations across gender.

It further highlighted that agriculture continues to account for the largest share of employment, though it has decreased from 44.8% in 2024 to 43% in 2025. The share of employment in construction has decreased marginally (12.3 per cent to 12 per cent), while manufacturing has seen improvement from 11.6 per cent to 12.1 per cent. Other services have also recorded an increase (12.2 per cent to 13.1 per cent). 

The CNX Nifty ended at 22331.40, down by 488.20 points or 2.14% after trading in a range of 22283.85 and 22714.10. There were 6 stocks advancing against 44 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 2.00%, Coal India up by 1.09%, ONGC up by 1.05%, Tech Mahindra up by 0.73% and Power Grid Corp up by 0.17%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 4.95%, Shriram Finance down by 3.93%, SBI down by 3.81%, JIO Financial Services down by 3.66% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 3.59% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in red; Germany’s DAX lost 52.65 points or 0.24% to 22,248.10 and France’s CAC fell 7.15 points or 0.09% to 7,694.80, while UK’s FTSE 100 increased 47.22 points or 0.47% to 10,014.57.