KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange remained under pressure on Tuesday as the benchmark 100-index shed 116.66 points to drop to 48539.06 points level at closing.
The stocks recorded the highest trading level of 48662.51 points and lowest level of 48061.27 points, with the volume of over 195.12 million shares and value of Rs11.98 billion. As many as 374 companies were active; of which 122 advanced, 239 declined and 13 remained unchanged.
TRG Pak Ltd was the volume leader with 14.39 million shares, adding Rs 0.53 to finish at Rs 53. It was followed by Sui North Gas with 12.13 million shares, losing Rs 0.41 to end at Rs 129.71 and Power Cement with 11.9 million shares, adding Rs 0.96 to close at Rs 19.28.
The top three gainers were Unilever Foods with price per share of 6250 (215.28), Colgate Palmolive with price per share of 2204 (104) and Pak Tobacco share of 1365 (65).
The top three losers were Rafhan Maize with price per share of 7711 (-188), Wyeth Pak Ltd with price per share of 2275.24 (-119.74) and Philip Morris Pak per share of 2161.15 (-113.74).
Earlier, the stocks opened keeping bearish trend and shed 45 points to drop to 48610 points level in early trading. The bearish trend further deepened at the PSX as the benchmark 100-index shed 361.93 points to reach 48293.79 points level till midday.
On Monday, the PSX started the week on a bearish note, with the benchmark shares index lost 536 points or (1.09%) amid lowest traded volumes since July 4, 2016.
International crude oil prices continued their decline, posting an overnight low of $49.7, which led oil majors POL (decline 4.1%), OGDC (2.3%), PPL (2.0%) & PSO (1.6%) to erode 126 points from the index. Aisha Steel Mill was volume leader with 10.6 million traded shares. Overall, stocks of 397 companies were traded on the exchange, of which 82 gained in value, 296 declined and 19 remained unchanged. Volume decreased by 27 percent to 133 million shares, while value declined by 25.7 percent to Rs7.2 billion.