Mumbai, May 22: The Indian stock market plunged by 336 points today, as investors sold banking shares even as global markets fell the most in over a week on concerns that record oil prices and inflation might slow economic growth and reduce profitability of companies.

Crude oil broke through the USD 135 a barrel barrier in Asian trade today, stoking fears of inflation.

Banking counters continued to bear the brunt of heavy selling, expecting more stringent measures by the apex bank to stem rising inflation.

The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share barometer resumed sharply lower at 17,104.59 from yesterday's close of 17,243.16 and dropped further to settle the day at 16,907.11, a steep fall of 336.05 points or 1.95 per cent.

Similarly, the 50-issue Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also tumbled by 92.20 points or 1.80 per cent to end at 5,025.45 from previous close.

Barring the Nikkei which landed in positive terrain at close today, other Asian indicies ended lower on the back of steep fall on wall street yesterday.

Yesterday, the US Federal Reserve warned of mounting concerns over the inflation, making further interest rate cut unlikely, dragging down The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index sharply.

Sharp fall in the rupee value, that breached 43-level against the US dollar, also was a cause of concern to marketmen.

Selling was so strong that besides Hindalco, the 29 other index-based shares registered sharp to moderate losses and all sectorial indices ended in the red.

Tata Motors moved down by 3.98 per cent, REL Infra by 3.97 per cent, SBI by 3.28 per cent, Rel Com by 3.16 per cent, Jaipra Asso by 2.65 per cent, ACL by 2.61 per cent, L&T by 2.57 per cent, HDFC Bank by 2.40 per cent, ICICI Bank by 2.39 per cent, ITC by 2.36 per cent, HDFC by 2.29 per centM&M by 2.20 per cent and DLF by 2.17 per cent.

Reflecting sharp downslide in Banking, realty and capital goods counters, the sectorial Bankex plunged by 264.01 points to 8,375.89, the BSE-Realty by 211.54 points to 7,693.34 and the BSE-CG by 328.17 points to 13,341.91.

The BSE-100 index dipped by 180.47 points to 8,978.60 from previous close of 9,159.07. The BSE-200 index and the Dollex-200 were quoted sharply lower at 2,110.05 and 816.22 from last close of 2,151.25 and 837.41 respectively.

The BSE-500 index dropped by 126.84 points to 6,745.76 from 6,872.60 and the Dollex-30 slumped to 3,225.07 from 3,309.94 previously.