Sustained selling by foreign funds ahead of Christmas holidays also aided the down trend, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 808.27 crore on Thursday, as per provisional data provided by the bourses.
The 30-issue BSE barometer resumed stable and improved to a high of 27,692.32 on firm Asian cues on the back of rally on Wall Street on Thursday.
Later, however, it met with strong resistance and fell back to settle at 27,350.68 on bearish European opening, showing a fall of 251.33 points (or 0.91 per cent).
On Thursday, the gauge had tanked by 229.09 points (or 0.82 per cent). On a weekly basis, the Sensex had tumbled 1,107.42 points (or 3.89 per cent).
Refinery stocks continued to suffer the most as RIL, ONGC, Gail India and Cairn India dropped further on sustained worries over the sustained fall in global crude oil prices.
Sensex-based RIL ONGC and Gail India contributed over 85 points to the sensex fall.
Brent crude oil prices fell to an over 5-year low of near US $63 a barrel.
Besides refinery, realty, consumer durable, capital goods, metal and power shares too were at the receiving end and put pressure on the BSE index.
Selling was mainly seen across-the-board as 11 of 12 sectoral indices finished in the red while only the Healthcare index ended in the green on defensive buying.
