At the close of trading, the Sensex was down by 720.60 points, or 0.90 per cent, at 79,223.11, and the Nifty dropped 183.90 points, or 0.76 per cent, to end at 24,004.75

Indian stock market benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty 50, faced significant losses on January 3 due to profit booking and a strengthening US dollar. The Sensex dropped over 700 points, while the Nifty 50 fell 200 points amid selling pressure across several sectors.

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty buckled under selling pressure to settle nearly 1 per cent lower on Friday as investors pared exposure to bank and IT stocks ahead of the earnings season star