The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex on Wednesday fell 147.58 points to close at 31,661.97. The National Stock Exchange Nifty also declined 36 points to finish at 9,916.20.

The slump in Indian markets could be attributed to the rupee hitting a three-week low against the US dollar at 64.26 intra-day, as well as continuing fears over the crisis in North Korea, reported Mint.

Kotak Mahindra and Reliance Industries, the top two gainers on the Sensex, helped the benchmark index recover slightly after it slipped to 198 points below Tuesday’s closing. Coal India, Maruti Suzuki and NTPC were the other best performers.

On the Nifty, the stocks that appreciated the most were Indiabulls Housing, Hindalco, UltraTechCement, Gail and Yes Bank.

Sun Pharma was the biggest loser on both indices. Other stocks that fell the most on the Sensex were ITC, Tata Motors, Lupin and Axis Bank. Bosch, ITC, Lupin and Axis Bank were the other biggest losers on the NSE.

Apart from the Shanghai SE Corporate Index, which closed almost flat at 1.07 points up, all other Asian markets fell sharply. The Hong Kong Hang Seng fell more than 127 points; the Taiwan TSEC 50 Index nearly 70 points; and Japan’s Nikkei 225 27.84 points.

The rupee was trading one paise down at 64.26 to the dollar at 4.33 pm.