The Sensex at the Bombay Stock tumbled by 353 points, the highest fall in 5 months to close at 18,518 on Tuesday. The Nifty at the National Stock Exchange dropped 105 points, or 1.9 percent, to 5,575. The sharper-than-expected rate hike by the Reserve Bank sparked-off selling especially in interest-rate sensitive stocks. But stock markets in Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore gained between 0.5 percent and 1.3 percent.US dollar ended cheaper against the rupee at 44.18 per dollar but the Pound Sterling turned higher at 72.46.