PTI

Mumbai, Mar 2: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Monday tumbled to a three-month low by losing 284 points, impacted by the deepening global economic crisis, sparking heavy selling by funds in blue-chips led by Reliance Industries.

The Sensex plunged by 284.53 points at 8,607.08, after touching the day's low of 8,563.52, the lowest since November 20, mostly on reports of the US economy contracting at the fastest pace in more than 27 years.

The 50-share National Stock Exchange index Nifty dropped by 89.05 points to 2,674.60, after touching a low of 2,659.55 during the day.

The trend-setter Reliance Industries, which approved the absorption of its unit Reliance Petroleum, led the decline with many stocks in the Mukesh and Anil Ambani group firms closing with losses.

Tata Consultancy Services led the decline among software makers as the US economy shrank at the fastest pace since 1982. More than 50 per cent of the country's software export revenue comes from the US.

RIL lost 3.15 per cent, Reliance Infra 9.12 per cent, RCom 6.50 per cent, Reliance Capital 6.97 per cent, Reliance Power 1.86 per cent and Reliance Petroleum 1.38 per cent.