Mumbai, Dec 21 (IANS): Weakness in the global markets and the domestic currency due to the US Fed rate hike along with profit booking pulled the Sensex down close to 700 points on Friday.

BSE Sensex settled 689.60 points or 1.89 per cent lower at 35,742.07 after touching an intra-day high of 36,483.49 and a low of 35,694.74.

The NSE's Nifty50 lost 197.70 points or 1.81 per cent to finish at 10,754.

"Indian markets are catching up with the fall in the Asian markets. Investors have seen that crude oil prices have stopped falling...so now markets are reacting to the Fed decision and worries regarding the global growth," Deepak Jasani, HDFC Securities' Retail Research Head told IANS.

Sensex had closed just 50 points lower on Wednesday despite weakness in global markets, ending gains registered over seven straight sessions.

All the 19 sectors on BSE ended in red led by heavy selling in finance and banking stocks.

The Indian rupee lost over 50 paise against the US dollar on Friday as it traded at Rs 70.23 from its previous close of 69.70. The decline in the rupee came after it made significant appreciation in the past few sessions.

Except for the power and energy stocks -- NTPC, Power Grid, and Coal India -- all the stocks on Sensex ended lower.