The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) landed in the red on Tuesday for the second day running, as the benchmark KSE-100 Index shed 166 points.

The benchmark touched the day's high at 48,089 points but failed to sustain the bullish rally. It went on to touch a low of 47,370 points by closing.

The index slipped 0.35 per cent to touch 47,443 points by the end of today's session.

Trading activity was led by the cement sector, with 123 million shares changing hands during the session, followed by the power and banking and engineering sectors with 41.7m and 35.8m shares respectively.

"Stocks closed lower amid pressure in oil stocks after global crude prices sink below $45 per barrel," said senior analyst Ahsan Mehanti.

"Commitment of Shanghai Electric for K-Electric offer stake invited early session rally," he said, adding that pressure on oil, cement and banking stocks amid concerns for weak banking spreads and super taxes levies played a catalysing role in the bearish close.

A total of 107m shares of KSE-100 companies changed hands during the session, with a total worth of nearly Rs8.6 billion.

Stocks of 356 companies were traded, of which 183 gained in value, whereas 151 declined and 22 remained unchanged.

Volumes were led by:

Power Cement(R): 109.8m shares traded [-71.43 pc];

K-Electric Ltd: 37.9m shares traded [+2.51pc].

Engro Polymer: 22.1m shares traded [+0.51pc];

TRG Pak Ltd: 17.5m shares traded [-0.72pc];

Bank of Punjab: 13.5m shares traded [-21.62pc];

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