Bearish sentiment continued to prevail at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as the benchmark KSE-100 Index lost 1.23%, while decent volumes were recorded in low tier stocks on Wednesday.

A day after the KSE-100 dropped below the 40,000 barrier on account of political upheaval and a vulnerable economic situation, the index opened in the green zone and hit an intra-day high at 40,022, up 190 points.

However, it could not sustain its gain, and selling pressure soon followed.

At close on Wednesday, the KSE-100 Index finished at a 26-month low level, settling at 39,342.89 after a decline of 489.56 points or 1.23%. This is the lowest closing level since November 2, 2020.

The benchmark index in just three sessions has lost 1,959 points or 4.7%

Index-heavy sectors including, automobiles, chemicals, commercial banks, oil & gas exploration closed in the negative.

Arif Habib Limited (AHL) in a report said that a negative session was witnessed at the PSX.

“The benchmark KSE-100 index recorded a lacklustre session as investor participation remained low due to ongoing political unrest,” said AHL.

On the economic front, the Pakistani rupee lost Re0.28 or 0.12%, to settle at Rs225.40 against the US Dollar.

Meanwhile, sectors contributing negatively to the benchmark KSE-100 index included, banking (159.20 points), technology and communication (108.35 points) and fertiliser (71.31 points).

Volume on the all-share index decreased to 166 million from 265.3 million on Tuesday. The value of shares traded dropped to Rs4.05 billion from Rs6.54 billion recorded in the previous session.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 17.47 million shares, followed by Hum Network with 11.88 million shares, and Dewan Motors with 8.57 million shares.

Shares of 329 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 115 registered an increase, 195 recorded a fall, and 19 remained unchanged.