The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex tumbled by close to 500 points to close at two- month low amid a steep fall in bourses across the world on fears that economic recovery will not be as swift as expected.

Extending losses to the sixth day in a row, the 30-share Sensex closed sharply lower by 491.34 points to close at 15,404.94, a level last seen on September 3.

The biggest fall before this was on August 17 when it tanked 600 points. In the previous five trading sessions, it had lost 914.53 points.

The National Stock Exchange index Nifty also dropped by 147.80 points, or 3.14 per cent to 4,563.90.

Hectic selling was further augmented in the last one hour of trading trading after in European stocks opened weaker.

Blue-chips such as RIL, Infosys, SBI led the fall. Metal major Hindalco was the biggest loser at 10.50 per cent.

Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki and Sun Pharma avoided selling fury and helped the market to avert steeper fall.

Among the 30-BSE index stocks, 27 ended with hefty losses.

The stocks of RIL, Infosys, SBI, Hindalco and DLF carry nearly 30 per cent weight on the benchmark index.

Marketmen said selling was triggered by steep fall in global markets discarding positive developments like better manufacturing data in the US. However, fears of mounting job losses dampened the investor sentiment. In Europe FTSE 100 index opened over 100 points lower.

In Asia, Hang Seng is down 1.76 per cent.