Indian shares fell 1.54 percent on Friday to their lowest close in more than a month - although they ended well above their lows for the day - as investors exited riskier assets on fears of a global liquidity crisis.
ICICI Bank fell 2.8 percent to a three-month closing low and State Bank of India fell 2.6 percent as investors turned cautious on financials on worries about contagion from the problems in the US mortgage sector.
The benchmark 30-share BSE index lost 231.90 points to end at 14,868.25, its lowest close since July 5, with 24 components falling. The index fell as much as 3.5 percent during trade to 14,570.89, its lowest level since late June.
The index lost 1.8 percent on the week, its third successive weekly fall, and is now down 6.3 percent from a record 15,868.85 hit on July 24. "Although a tough trading week has finally ended, I really doubt it whether we have seen the end of the turbulence yet because the whole world is turbulent now," said Arun Kejriwal, strategist at research firm KRIS.
"The domestic fundamentals are still good, but we are in a globalised world and we had to react to the credit woes that have taken the entire world in its grip. We are seeing a trend reversal of sorts and this will continue." Other Asian markets were also spooked on Friday - many ended down more than 2 percent - and major central banks tried to soothe nerves by adding funds to money markets.
Export-driven technology stocks helped the market to trim some of its losses on a weakening of the rupee against the dollar, as the credit worries saw an unwinding of carry trades and selling high-yielding currencies such as the rupee.
Infosys Technologies, the second-largest software exporter, ended up 0.8 percent at 1,952.25 rupees, and Satyam Computer Services rose 2.6 percent to 479.40 rupees. In the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 1,605 to 1,080 on a higher-than-normal volume of more than 436 million shares. The 50-share NSE index fell 1.59 percent to 4,333.35. Elsewhere in the region, Karachi's 100-share index ended down 1.28 percent at 13,012.96, its lowest close in more than two months, as political uncertainty eroded investor confidence. Colombo's All-Share index fell 0.53 percent to 2,422.17.
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