The Sensex ended 642 points or 1.7 per cent lower at 36,481 and the Nifty 50 index slumped 186 points or 1.7 per cent to close at 10,818. (Catch today's market highlights here)

Rising crude oil prices in the aftermath of a drone attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities is likely to widen the trade deficit gap for India, which imports around 80 per cent of its crude requirement.

Selling of Indian shares by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) also added to the already weak investor sentiment, they added. Foreign investors have so far this month net sold shares worth Rs 2,428 crore, according to data compiled by the National Securities Depository.

"Markets are falling on the back of rising crude oil, depreciation in rupee against the dollar and weakness in index heavyweights like HDFC and HDFC Bank," Sumeet Bagadia, executive director at Choice Broking, told NDTV.

"Some more correction can be expected and Nifty can go down to 10,800-10,750 levels and Bank Nifty can fall to 27,000-26,800 levels," he added.

The selling pressure was so intense that only three out of 30 shares in the Sensex basket ended higher.

In the Nifty 50 basket of shares, 44 stocks ended with losses. For the calendar year 2019, the Nifty turned negative on Tuesday, with a decline of 0.41 per cent.

All the 11 sector gauges compiled by National Stock Exchange ended lower, led by a 3.8 per cent fall in the Nifty Auto index. The Nifty Bank, Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Financial Services, Metal, Private Bank and Realty indices also plunged between 2-3.5 per cent each.