The Pakistan Stock Exchange saw renewed selling pressure on the penultimate trading session of the week, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index losing 507 points, more than 1pc, to once again close below the 48,000 points level at 47,950.58.
More than 88.6 million shares of indexed companies were traded, worth more than Rs8.37 billion.
"After rallying nearly 1,100 points (2pc) since Friday, the KSE-100 Index witnessed heavy profit taking today," reported Hammad Amman of Topline Securities.
"One could potentially pin the sell-off on the Sindh chief minister's comments regarding a nationwide gas shutdown, or the resurgence of Indo-Pak tensions, or the looming fear related to the Panamagate case verdict," he offered.
"Stocks closed sharply lower on concerns for economic uncertainty amid fiscal, energy challenges," said Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corp.
"Auto, cement and banking stocks supported the index on upbeat sales data and reports of rising banking spreads. Concerns for outcome of regulatory actions on non-compliant brokerage firms and uncertainty over Pak-India relations played a catalyst role in bearish close," he added.
377 symbols were traded, of which 97 advanced, 261 declined and 20 remained unchanged. Total traded volume was flattish from the day ago at 233.39m shares, but total value increased to Rs12.05bn.
Commercial banks led volumes, followed by chemicals, engineering, technology and communication and oil and gas marketing stocks.
Volumes were led by:
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Aisha Steel Mill: 20.02m shares traded (-3.71pc)
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Lotte Chemical: 17.12m shares traded (+2.67pc)
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Sui Southern Gas: 14.22m shares traded (+4.19pc)
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TRG Pak Ltd: 14.11m shares traded (-3.93pc)
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Azgard Nine Ltd: 8.75m shares traded (-1.35pc)
