The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday commenced the week on a negative note with market pundits citing "political uncertainty" which saw the benchmark KSE-100 Index plunge 356 points to close at 42,911.

The index showed some positive activity in the first few minutes of trading and touched a day's high of 43,491 points. The index, however, could not sustain the momentum and adopted a negative trend for the rest of the session. It touched a day's low of 42,804 points near the close of trading.

In all, 167.6 million shares worth Rs7.2 billion changed hands during the session. Of the 343 traded scrips, 125 advanced, 206 declined and 12 remained unchanged.

A Topline Securities report held rising political uncertainty responsible for the low participation of investors and selling in index heavyweight sectors. The report cited media reports in connection with the National Accountability Bureau's proceedings against Punjab Land Development Company and reactions of the opposition on the issue.

The index saw thin trading activity, with volumes going down by 31 per cent and value declining by 29pc, it read.

Overall, the engineering sector dominated trading with 34.1m shares traded, while the banking and communication sectors followed with 19.1m and 16.5m shares changing hands.

Volumes were led by:

• Dost Steels Ltd: 22.5m shares traded [-5.06pc];

• Azgard Nine: 11.6m shares traded [-3.52pc];

• Fauji Foods Ltd: 11.5m shares traded [+3.47pc];

• Bank Al-Falah: 10.6m shares traded [-0.15pc];

• TRG Pak Ltd: 9.3m shares traded [+4.97pc].