Sensex and Nifty erased morning gains on Tuesday due to weak cues from European markets and closed sharply lower.

Sensex closed at 8649, down 253 points and Nifty closed at 2641 down 66 points.

Oil & Gas index was the major loser. In individual stocks Reliance, Sterlite, SBI, Mahindra and Ranbaxy closed with more than 6 percent loss.