Sensex Tumbles 284 Points On Profit Taking; Nifty Closes Below 8600

(RTTNews) - Indian shares tumbled on Wednesday as the long-awaited Goods and Services Tax that aims to bring a unified tax rate in the country came closer to becoming a reality.

With traders locking in some recent gains ahead of GST vote in the Rajya Sabha later today, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex ended the session down 284.20 points or 1.02 percent at 27,697.51, marking its lowest level in over three weeks.

The broader CNX Nifty index fell by 78.05 points or 0.91 percent to 8,544.85 to post its biggest single-day loss since June 24.

Trading sentiment was also impacted by weak cues from Asia and Europe as a slew of negative catalysts such as sliding oil prices, a deepening rout in Japanese government debt and concerns about the state of Europe's banks sent investors fleeing riskier assets.

Stocks fell across the board, with Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro, Maruti Suzuki, ITC, Tata Motors and BHEL losing 2-4 percent.

HCL Technologies jumped over 3 percent on better-than-expected Q1 results.

Metal stocks such as Hindalco Industries, JSW Steel and Vedanta eked out modest gains on a report that a government body has recommended temporary anti-dumping duty on some steel products.