Pakistani stocks continued to lose ground ahead of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif's planned rally on August 9, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index losing 486 points (1.05 per cent) to drop below the 46,000 points barrier and close at 45,979.70.

The index traded sideways for the greater part of the day before experiencing a sharp decline close to the 1.30pm mark.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corp said stocks had experienced continued pressure across the board over concerns for political developments.

"Concerns over the Rs800bn circular debt in the energy sector and uncertainty in global crude prices also played a catalyst role," he said.

Out of the 371 symbols traded on the exchange on Tuesday, only 81 advanced and 15 remained unchanged. On the other hand, 275 closed below the price they opened.

Commercial banks were by far the most traded sector on Tuesday, with 44.3m shares traded. Technology and energy stocks followed with 20.7m and 19.2m shares, respectively.

Exchange volumes touched 205.8 million shares, with a total worth of Rs8.83 billion. KSE-100 trade volumes dropped to 84.5m shares, worth Rs6.3bn.

Volumes were led by:

1. Summit Bank: 27.2m shares traded (-15.14pc)

2. K-Electric Ltd: 17.7m shares traded (-5.34pc)

3. TRG Pak Ltd: 16.1m shares traded (-0.41pc)

4. Azgard Nine: 11m shares traded (-2.23pc)

5. Aisha Steel Mill: 9.7m shares traded (-3.93pc)