Fall in major Asian markets hit by the US credit crisis continued to scare investors away from the domestic bourses, but strong opening in European markets restricted the losses of the BSE Sensex to 217 points on Friday.

Firmness in the London Stock Exchange helped restore investors’ confidence, evident from 362 points recovery of the Sensex to settle at 14,141.52, down by 216.69 points or 1.51 per cent from Thursday’s close. The Bombay Stock Exchange barometer has lost 726.73 points or 4.89 per cent this week.

The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also dipped by 70.55 points or 1.69 per cent to close at 4,108.05 from previous close of 4,178.60. The free fall in share prices was largely attributed to aggressive sell-off by hedge funds, which pulled out large funds from market during Thursday’s mayhem.

FIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 3,108 crore on August 16, as per provisional figure released by Sebi. Domestic funds, however, injected Rs 1,399 crore on Thursday. The market breadth remained highly negative as 1,835 stocks ended with losses while 852 closed with gains.