Benchmark indices fell sharply in trade today, as the rupee plunged on fears of worsening macros and sustained demand for the dollar.

The Sensex ended the day lower by 180 points at 35,037 points while the Nifty fell 83 points in trade at 10,589 points. Leading the set of losers were the oil marketing companies, following a lower rupee and higher crude oil prices.

Today's drop was largely on factors like strong dollar and a sharp rise in crude prices.

The rupee was last seen trading at 69.03 to the dollar and had dipped to as low as 69.09 to the dollar.

There was also some demand from Foreign Portfolio Investors, who have consistently been buying dollars in trade.

BPCL and HPCL, two of the three biggest refiners behind IOC, lost 4 per cent each as crude oil continued to surge. There were hopes of some recovery in these stocks towards noon, however, they dived again in the last one hour of trade.

In fact, the damage was across all sectors, including IT stocks. Banking stocks continued to drop led by big names like ICICI Bank, but, the selling was severe in the smaller banks like South Indian Bank and Karnataka Bank.

All sectoral indices ended the day in the red, except the metals index. Meanwhile, most Asian markets ended the day flat, while Europe was trading with marginal losses.

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