Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty extended their downward trend on Friday, declining nearly 1 per cent, as escalating tensions in West Asia and rising crude oil prices continued to dampen investor sentiment.

At 10:30 hours, the 30-share benchmark index was trading at 75138.38 down by -896.04 points or by -1.18 % and then NSE Nifty was at 23317.5 down by -321.65 points or by -1.36 %.

Sensex touched intraday high of 75576.2 and intraday low of 75070.66 The NSE Nifty touched intraday high of 23492.4 and intraday low of 23311.85

The top gainers of the BSE Sensex pack were Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (Rs. 2170.05,+1.62%), Trent Ltd. (Rs. 3569.30,+1.05%), Bharti Airtel Ltd. (Rs. 1807.95,+0.40%), Reliance Industries Ltd. (Rs. 1394.10,+0.16%), Bajaj Finance Ltd. (Rs. 864.45,+0.10%), among others.

The top losers of the BSE Sensex pack were Tata Steel Ltd. (Rs. 185.30,-4.21%), Larsen & Toubro Ltd. (Rs. 3565.00,-4.19%), Bharat Electronics Ltd. (Rs. 439.65,-3.11%), UltraTech Cement Ltd. (Rs. 10748.50,-3.08%), Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd. (Rs. 1356.70,-2.49%), among others.

FMCG index was at 17724.4 up by 15.65 points or by 0.09%. Kaveri Seed Company Ltd. (Rs. 822.55,+2.72%), LT Foods Ltd. (Rs. 399.70,+2.71%), Zydus Wellness Ltd. (Rs. 395.95,+1.96%), Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (Rs. 2170.05,+1.62%), Hatsun Agro Products Ltd. (Rs. 948.35,+1.43%),.

Metal index was at 37514.9 down by -1643.35 points or by -4.2%. National Aluminium Company Ltd. (Rs. 382.95,-6.43%), Hindalco Industries Ltd. (Rs. 914.00,-5.76%), Jindal Steel Ltd. (Rs. 1170.85,-4.43%), Hindustan Zinc Ltd. (Rs. 557.50,-4.37%), APL Apollo Tubes Ltd. (Rs. 1922.75,-4.31%),.

The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was weak. On BSE out of total shares traded 4005 , shares advanced were 981 while 2818 shares declined and 206 were unchanged.