The Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Index lost 452 points (0.95pc) on the first trading session of the week as investors grew restless amidst political uncertainty in the country.
"Stocks closed sharply lower amid thin trade on concerns for prevailing political uncertainty," Arif Habib Corp analyst Ahsan Mehanti said in a post-market close note to investors.
"Pre-budget uncertainty and concerns over the impact of the Panamagate case decision played a catalyst role in the bearish close," he added.
"The KSE-100 index slumped as investors likely priced in the worst possible outcome of the Panama case (with anecdotal news suggesting a verdict in a few days)," read an analyst note issued by Topline Securities.
"Today’s Blue Monday-esque closing confirms our view that last week’s relief rally was indeed a dead cat bounce as the index has collapsed to a low of 47,125 points (lowest since Dec 27, 2016 closing of 46,920pts), pushing year-to-date return to -1.4pc vs MSCI Emerging Market's +11.4pc," it added.
KSE-100 Index volumes reached 65.33 million shares traded, worth Rs6.13 billion rupees.
Overall volumes were registered at 154.16m shares, worth Rs8.18bn.
In all, 361 symbols were traded on the PSX, of which 68 advanced, 279 declined and 14 remained unchanged.
Volumes were led by:
TRG Pakistan: 16.26m shares traded (+0.82pc)
Aisha Steel Mill: 6.93m shares traded (-2.29pc)
Engro Polymer: 6.89m shares traded (+1.64pc)
K-Electric Ltd.: 6.21m shares traded (-1.38pc)
Bank of Punjab: 6.13m shares traded (-4.07pc)
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