Sensex closes nearly 700 points lower, Nifty down over 1%

Benchmark market indices Sensex and Nifty ended lower for the third consecutive session on Friday.

Indian shares closed in the red for the third straight session on Friday, dragged by banks and IT firms, with heavy outflows from foreign investors adding to concerns of overvaluations.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index fell 1.04% to 17,671.65 and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex closed down 1.1% to 59,306.93. Both the indexes fell for a second straight week, losing more than 2%.