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Indian shares fell notably on Friday, with uncertainty over U.S. tariffs and a muted start to the quarterly earnings season weighing on markets<\/span>. <\/p>\n Potential disruption to cheap Russian oil supply due to threatened U.S. and NATO sanctions over the Ukraine conflict also kept investors on edge. <\/p>\n “I’m not worried at all. If something happens, we’ll deal with it,” Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri reportedly said on Thursday at an industry event in New Delhi. <\/p>\n Earlier today, EU countries approved a new package of sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine, including a lower oil price cap on Russia’s global oil exports, a ban on transactions with Nord Stream gas pipelines, and the targeting of more shadow fleet ships.<\/p>\n The 18th round of sanctions since the 2022 invasion was signed off as Slovakia’s Russia-friendly Prime Minister Robert Fico withdrew his objections after securing what he called “guarantees” from the EU on gas prices.<\/p>\n The EU will keep raising the pressure until Russia ends its war,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a statement.<\/p>\n The benchmark S&P\/BSE Sensex fell 501.51 points, or 0.61 percent, to 81,757.73 while the broader NSE Nifty index closed at 24,968.40, down 143.05 points, or 0.57 percent, from its previous close. <\/p>\n The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes ended down around 0.6 percent each. <\/p>\n The market breadth was weak on the BSE, with 2,384 shares declining while 1,666 shares advanced and 158 shares closed unchanged. <\/p>\n Among the prominent decliners, shares or private sector lender Axis Bank plunged 5.2 percent after asset quality issues and slower loan growth weighed on its Q1 earnings.<\/p>\n Eternal, Titan Company, Bharti Airtel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank and BEL dropped 1-2 percent. <\/p>\n Defense stocks succumbed to profit taking after recent strong gains, with HAL, Bharat Dynamics and Data Patterns (India) tumbling 3-5 percent.<\/p>\n On the positive side, Tata Steel advanced 1.7 percent and Bajaj Finance surged 1.9 percent. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n