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

BSE Sensex and Nifty50 declined nearly 1 per cent on Friday as investors reduced their holdings in banking and IT sectors before the upcoming earnings season.

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.