Bears held their ground and dominated trading at the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday, as the benchmark KSE-100 index plummeted by 1,448 points after staying in the negative region throughout the day.

Dwindling macroeconomic indicators amid continuous fall in the rupee value against the US dollar – which depreciated by around Re1 on Monday – instilled fears among the market players and haunted the overall trading environment.

Consequently, they rushed to offload their holdings as across-the-board profit-taking was witnessed during the session.

Moreover, depleting foreign exchange reserves amid political unrest in the country also kept the overall trading sentiments bearish.

The session commenced on a dull note, as the benchmark index witnessed a gradual decline in the initial hours of the trading.

The index remained in the negative zone throughout the day, and touched an intra-day low of 43,233 points during the second half.

However, late session brief buying activity helped the index to recoup some of the losses but eventually it ended up in the red zone.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded a decline of 1,447.67 points, or 3.23%, to settle at 43,393.14 points.

Topline Securities, in its report, said that bears ruled at the bourse on Monday as the benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 3.23%.

The market opened on a negative note over unstable political and economic conditions, which led the index to make an intra-day low of 1,607 points.

“Selling spree was witnessed across the board, however, major laggards were cements, technology and banks as Lucky Cement, Systems Limited and Habib Bank Limited closed lower,” Topline said.

Shares of 363 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 38 stocks closed higher, 311 declined and 14 remained unchanged.