After a positive opening, Pakistan Stock Exchange Tuesday witnessed panic selling due to prevailing political situation in the country which forced the market to close in deep red.

BRIndex100 lost 51.41 points or 1.28 percent to close at 3,961.41 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,050.66 and intraday low of 3,926.01 points. Volumes stood at 441.433 million shares.

BRIndex30 decreased by 200.66 points or 0.97 percent to close at 20,514.47 points with a turnover of 311.405 million shares.

The KSE-100 Index declined by 417.23 points or 1.09 percent to close at 37,795.05 points. Due to selling pressure, daily trading volumes on the ready counter increased to 488.701 million shares as compared to 241.536 million shares traded Monday.

The market capitalization declined by Rs 70 billion to stand at Rs 7.232 trillion. Out of total 378 active scrips, 234 closed in negative, 133 in positive while the value of 11 stocks remained unchanged.

Unity Foods was the volume leader with 58.079 million shares. It gained Re 0.85 to close at Rs 12.94 followed by Fauji Foods that increased by Re 0.72 to close at Rs 13.31 with 33.930 million shares. Colgate Palmolive and Hinopak Motor were the top gainers with Rs 49.99 and Rs 23.13, respectively to close at Rs 2,049.99 and Rs 511.33. Philip Morris Pak and Sanofi-Aventis were the top losers with Rs 54.49 and Rs 36.00, respectively to close at Rs 2,334.49 and Rs 705.00.

BR Automobile Assembler Index lost 10.53 points or 0.17 percent to close at 6,013.30 points with total turnover of 5.589 million shares.

BR Cement Index decreased by 86.44 points or 2.44 percent to close at 3,462.23 points with 59.471 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index declined by 82.75 points or 0.95 percent to close at 8,649.17 points with 50.473 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index plunged by 171.63 points or 3.21 percent to close at 5,176.50 points with 27.540 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 4,299.38 points, down 87.78 points or 2.0 percent with 17.917 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index fell 7.74 points or 0.84 percent to close at 908.94 points with 38.673 million shares.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market opened on a positive note and went up by 356 points in initial trading. As the news of SC's notice on extension of the COAS's tenure caused panic among investors. The market took a nosedive of 676 points and although staged recovery a couple of times, but failed to manage the selling pressure.

As a result of confusion amongst investors, apparently those who booked positions earlier in the session resorted to selling to stem losses, trading volumes increased to 488 million shares. Selling pressure was observed in Cement sector, particularly DGKC and LUCK, where a rumour of an increase in cement price caused investors to take positions. Similarly, banking sector faced selling pressure, with MCB taking a major toll. Cement sector led the volumes with 69.4 million shares, followed by Vanaspati (58.1 million shares) and Banks (50.4 million shares).

Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (down 101 points), Banks (down 95 points), Power (down 92 points), Cement (down 56 points) and O&GMCs (down 49 points).

Stocks that contributed positively include ENGRO (up 46 points), AICL (up 8 points), SYS (up 8 points), EFUG (up 7 points) and COLG (up 6 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include HUBC (down 74 points), OGDC (down 61 points), MCB (down 45 points), PSO (down 34 points) and LUCK (down 31 points).