A bearish trend continued on Pakistan Stock Exchange Friday due to selling in almost all sectors by local and foreign investors.

BRIndex100 decreased by 70.16 points or 1.65 percent to close at 4,182.30 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,255.45 and intraday low of 4,172.43 points. Volumes stood at 177.911 million shares.

BRIndex30 declined by 490.2 points or 2.23 percent to close at 21,480.36 points with a turnover of 143.986 million shares.

The KSE-100 Index plunged by 580.77 points or 1.43 percent to close at 40,143.63 points. Daily trading volumes on the ready counter increased to 193.536 million shares as compared to 127.803 million shares traded Thursday.

Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $1.2 million. The market capitalization declined by Rs 96 billion to Rs 7.575 trillion. Out of total 355 active scrips, 291 closed in negative, only 47 in positive while the value of 17 stocks remained unchanged.

Maple Leaf was the volume leader with 21.467 million shares. However, it declined by Rs 1.23 to close at Rs 21.81 followed by Lotte Chemical that lost Re 0.90 to close at Rs 13.92 with 17.385 million shares.

Sapphire Fiber and Indus Dyeing were the top gainers with Rs 46.78 and Rs 30.99, respectively to close at Rs 839.98 and Rs 629.99. Mari Petroleum and Highnoon Lab were the top losers with Rs 34.47 and Rs 25.84, respectively to close at Rs 1,274.01 and Rs 502.16.

BR Automobile Assembler Index declined by 107.47 points or 1.79 percent to close at 5,886.59 points with total turnover of 629,040 shares.

BR Cement Index decreased by 93.7 points or 2.48 percent to close at 3,690.47 points with 43.332 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index plunged by 116.63 points or 1.2 percent to close at 9,619.06 points with 25.991 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index shed 88.8 points or 1.59 percent to close at 5,480.29 points with 4.623 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index fell by 79.49 points or 1.75 percent to close at 4,463.65 points with 20.628 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index lost 31.24 points or 2.96 percent to close at 1,024.21 points with 16.882 million shares.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that after opening on a positive note and gaining 145 points in the first session, the market saw heavy sell-off that aggravated in the second session losing 678 points during the session. Bond yields for 3-year and 5-year were also observed to be trading at higher yields that caused concern amongst investors due to higher inflation and delay in possible rate cut. Selling activity was largely seen across the board amidst low volumes for better part of the day, but second session saw volumes picking up as prices declined steeply.

Cement sector led the volumes table with 43.3 million shares, followed by Chemical (28.1 million shares) and Banks (26 million shares).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (down 132 points), O&GMCs (down 71 points), E&P (down 65 points), Cement (down 65 points) and Power (down 42 points).

Stocks that contributed positively include EFUG (up 9 points), FFC (up 8 points), SCBPL (up 4 points), BAHL (up 3 points) and NATF (up 2 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include HBL (down 43 points), PSO (down 41 points), HUBC (down 30 points), DAWH (down 27 points) and BAFL (down 25 points).