New Delhi, Mar 2 (IANS): Key equity indices -- S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 -- have settled sharply lower on Wednesday as investors continued to be on the sidelines amid the ongoing full-scale war in Ukraine.

Sensex settled 1.4 per cent or 778 points down at 55,468 points, whereas Nifty 1.1 per cent or 188 points down at 16,606 points.

"The escalation of war drowned the global market, alarming the Indian market to start with substantial weakness. The negative effect was more on large-caps in-line with weak Q3 GDP data and downgrade of FY22 growth to 8.9 per cent from 9.2 per cent, by National Statistical Office (NSO)," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Volatility is expected in the near term given the boiling global crude prices, state elections outcome, and US Fed's policy status in the coming weeks, Nair said.

On the stocks side, Maruti Suzuki, Dr Reddy's, Bajaj Auto, Asian Paints, and Hero Motocorp were the top five losers among the Nifty 50 companies, declining 6.0 per cent, 5.1 per cent, 4.6 per cent, 4.2 per cent, and 4.1 per cent, respectively.

Coal India, HDFC Life, SBI Life, Tata Steel, and Hindalco were the top gainers during the session, NSE data showed.

On the sectoral indices front, Nifty auto, private bank, and financial services were the top drags, data showed. While, Nifty metal, and oil and gas traded in the green.