Sensex, Nifty50 fall for 2nd week dragged by financial, metal stocks; Nifty Bank's worst week in 2 months

The week began with the headline indices' biggest single-day fall in eight months followed by the biggest rebound in more than a year.

"Domestic equities were moving in tandem with developments on the Russia-Ukraine front and global inflationary pressure. Increased tensions between Russia and Ukraine sent oil prices rising and forced investors to dump risky assets. However, a ray of hope that the tension is de-escalating prompted a sharp recovery in domestic equities," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

NSE's India VIX index -- known in market parlance as the barometer of fear -- surged 24.3 percent to finish at the 22 mark, its biggest weekly jump in three months.

"If we were to interpret the possible reasons for the sharp shift in mood, the most touted one is Fed rate hikes, which tend to induce significant FII outflows. With FIIs on a selling frenzy in the recent months, this risk appears to be priced in," said Yesha Shah, Head of Equity Research at Samco Securities.

FIIs this week net sold Indian shares worth Rs 5,261.5 crore ($696.9 million), according to provisional exchange data. So far in February, they have taken out Rs 15,342 crore ($2 billion) from Indian shares -- a fifth straight month of outflows.

The Nifty Bank tumbled 918.1 points or 2.4 percent -- its worst week in two months. SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank took a hit of 2-5 percent each.

The Nifty IT eked out a weekly gain of 0.3 percent, as TCS rose 2.7 percent and Tech Mahindra 0.9 percent, but Infosys fell 0.8 percent.

As many as 23 stocks in the Nifty50 basket managed to finish the week above the flatline.

From the midcap and smallcap segments, losers Manappuram, Metropolis, NLC, Suprajit and KRBL were the top weekly losers, falling 14-20 percent. On the flipside, Orient Refractories, ABB Power, PNB Housing, Solara and Uflex, rising 8-24 percent, were the top gainers.