The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes fell sharply lower in trade today amid a broad-based sell-off. The Sensex plunged as much as 458 points to hit intraday low of 36,602.38 and the Nifty 50 Index broke below its important psychological level of 10,800. Realty, state-run banking, metal and private sector banking shares were among the worst hit in trade so far. Meanwhile, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, HDFC and Larsen & Toubro were among the biggest drags on the Sensex.

As of 2:18 pm, the Sensex dropped 0.9 per cent or 331 points to 36,729 and the Nifty 50 index plunged 1.14 per cent or 125 points to 10,794.

Nine of 11 sector gauges compiled by National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by Nifty Realty Index's 4.3 per cent slump on the back of 11 per cent drop in DLF's share price.

Nifty Metal, Financial Services, Bank and Private Bank indexes also fell between 0.9-1.6 per cent each.

On the other hand, Nifty FMCG Index rose 0.8 per cent.

Small-cap shares were sharply underperforming their larger peers as the Nifty Smallcap 100 Index fell 1.7 per cent.

Yes Bank was top loser in the Nifty 50 basket of shares, the stock fell 7 per cent to Rs 60.85. Indiabulls Housing Finance, Coal India, UPL, BPCL, Vedanta, Bajaj Finserv and IndusInd Bank also fell between 2 and 5.5 per cent each.

On the flipside, Britannia Industries, Dr. Reddy's Labs, Tata Consultancy Services, Hindustan Unilever and Tech Mahindra were among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was extremely negative as over 1,400 shares were trading lower while a little over 350 shares were among the gainers on the NSE.