New Delhi: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex extended losses to more than 2% on Tuesday, touted to be the lowest closing in three years as withdrawals of foreign funds increased on deepening global economic concerns.

Markets witnessed some volatility today and lacked direction for most part of the session. Trading was flat after noon but the index plunged when European shares turned negative on falling bank shares after a brief rebound.

Negative sentiment was also picked up from Asian markets that suffered some record lows today after Wall Street tumbled overnight to touch its 12-year low after AIG posted huge quarterly loss and US government agreed to bail the insurer for the third time.

All indices slipped to negative with significant selling pressure witnessed among the consumer durables, FMCG, technology, banking, oil and gas and IT stocks.

The 30-share BSE index began the day 0.6% lower on financial worries and weak global markets. Sensex lost 179.79 points to end at 8,427.29 and 50-share NSE Nifty lost 52.20 points to close at 2,622.40.

Grasim Industries was on top among the three gainers from the BSE pack, it traded up by 2.88% to Rs1,362.05, along with ACC Ltd by 1.26% to Rs530.10 and Jaiprakash Asoociates by 0.88% to Rs63.20.

Tata Power led the declining stocks by falling 6.41% to Rs666.05, followed by Reliance Communication Ltd by 4.44% to Rs138.90, ITC Ltd by 3.75% to Rs172, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd by 3.12% to Rs445.15, Housing Development and Finance Corp by 2.95% to Rs1,200.45 and Bharti Airtel by 2.60% to Rs601.45.

AIG news nagged the Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei dropped to 26-year low in early trade but later trimmed losses to close just 0.7% down. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 2.3% as HSBC lost almost fifth of its value in market capitalization.