KSE-100 extends losses, falls nearly 300 points

• Lack of positive triggers forced investors to take a cautious stance.
• KSE-100 index closes at 41,220.91 points with a decrease of 0.72%.
• Volumes remained decent on the main board.

KARACHI: Selling pressure continued to dominate trading at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Tuesday as the benchmark KSE-100 index extended losses from the previous session and recorded a decline of nearly 300 points.

A lack of positive triggers and the continuous depreciation of the Pakistani rupee forced investors to take a cautious stance and they resorted to profit-taking.

Earlier, trading began with a spike and market players poured investment into selected stocks, however, the KSE-100 index failed to maintain the momentum as bulls withdrew and bears took over.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 41,220.91 points with a decrease of 299.68 points or 0.72%.

A report from Arif Habib Limited stated that the market observed a negative session today as the US dollar continued its flight against the Pakistani rupee.

The benchmark KSE-100 index opened in the positive zone but failed to sustain in the green zone which led the index to an intra-day low of 441.88 points and close in the red zone.

Volumes remained decent on the main board whereas hefty volumes were witnessed in the third-tier stocks.

Sectors contributing to the performance included exploration and production (-123.2 points), technology (-57.8 points), banks (-27.3 points), cement (-24.1 points), and power (-23.6 points).

Shares of 322 companies were traded during the session. At the close of trading, 95 scrips closed in the green, 204 in the red, and 23 remained unchanged.

Overall trading volumes rose to 156.57 million shares compared with Monday's tally of 148.21 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs5.66 billion.

K-Electric was the volume leader with 18.41 million shares traded, losing Rs0.08 to close at Rs3. It was followed by TPL Properties with 14.43 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.29 to close at Rs19 and TRG Pakistan with 14.35 million shares traded, losing Rs3.70 to close at Rs114.64.