At the Interbank Foreign Exchange, the rupee opened sharply lower at 70.06 and fell further to the day's low of 70.27 as crude oil prices breached the USD 75 per barrel mark for the first time this year.
The Indian rupee on Wednesday plunged 32 paise to 72.17 per US dollar on the forex market after the appointment of Shaktikanta Das as the new governor of the RBI.
The rise in the rupee was also supported by dollar-selling by exporters and banks and the US unit's weakness against some currencies overseas, traders said.
The Sensex fell below the 35,000-level to touch a low of 34,811.60 due to heavy selling pressure in view of foreign capital outflows and weak global cues.
