Mumbai, Feb. 27 -- Domestic equity benchmarks ended sharply lower on Friday, pressured by continued foreign institutional investor outflows and escalating geopolitical tensions. Investor sentiment remained fragile amid rising hostilities between Pakistan and Afghanistan and lingering uncertainty over US-Iran talks.

The Nifty slipped below the 25,200 mark, weighed down by losses in auto and FMCG stocks. The index opened on a weak note and stayed under sustained selling pressure through most of the session. A fresh wave of selling in the final hours intensified the decline, pulling the benchmark closer to the day's low by the closing bell.

The S&P BSE Sensex tanked 961.42 points or 1.17% to 81,287.19. The Nifty 50 index dropped 317.90 poi...