Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed heavy selling pressure ahead of talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission for the final review of the stand-by arrangement (SBA), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index losing 953.60 points (-1.45 percent) to close at 64,801.70 points. The IMF mission is set to hold economic review discussions from March 14 to 18 for the final review of the SBA, raising concerns regarding the stringent measures the Fund may require. Some experts attributed the selling to a much-needed technical correction in the market. “Technical correction took place today and this was long overdue,” said Tahir Abbas, Head of Research at Arif Habib Limited (AHL). The analyst said liquidity and volume in the market remained low due to Ramazan. “However, market activity will improve in the coming days,” he added. Other analysts said participants were settling their positions after heavy buying in the previous sessions. Capital Stake, in its report, attributed the bearish trend to investor concerns over the upcoming talks with the IMF. “Additionally, the persistent rise in inflation dashed hopes for a potential rate cut in the upcoming monetary policy meeting,” added the brokerage house. The benchmark index traded in a range of 1,194.97 points, showing an intraday high of 65,859.63 points and an intraday low of 64,664.66 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 619.66 points (-1.44 percent) to close at 43,088.25 points. Similarly, the KMI All Share Islamic Index shed 536.29 points (-1.73 percent) to close at 31,029.08 points. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index decreased to 126.99 million shares against 251.63 million shares a session earlier. Similarly, the overall market volumes decreased to 321.71 million shares against 548.76 million shares a session earlier. Among scrips, HASCOL topped the volumes with 29.32 million shares, followed by PIAA (28.9 million) and CNERGY (25.5 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included HASCOL, PIAA, CNERGY, KOSM, and AIRLINK, which formed over 39 percent of total volumes. A total of 327 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against 355 a session earlier, out of which shares of 57 closed up, shares of 253 companies closed down while shares of 17 companies remained unchanged. A total of 89 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 98 a session earlier, out of which share prices of 8 companies closed up, 80 companies closed down and one remained unchanged. The number of total trades decreased to 160,583 from 217,647 a session earlier, while the value traded decreased to Rs10.86 billion against Rs16.61 billion a session earlier. In terms of rupee, SHSML remained the top gainer with an increase of Rs17.28 (+4.63 percent) per share, closing at Rs390.28. The runner-up remained PSEL, the share price of which climbed up by Rs12.35 (+1.48 percent) to Rs844. NESTLE remained the top loser with a decrease of Rs97.77 (-1.29 percent) per share, closing at Rs7,480, followed by SAZEW, the share price of which fell by Rs31.71 (-7.33 percent) to close at Rs401.15 per share. The major sectors taking the index towards south remained oil & gas exploration companies (182 points), investment bank/investment companies/ securities companies (101 points), cement (76 points), fertilizer (68 points), refinery (64 points), oil & gas marketing companies (63 points), power generation and distribution companies (60 points), technology and communication (53 points), commercial banks (43 points), and automobile assemblers (42 points). Major companies depriving the index of points remained DAWH (53 points), OGDC (46 points), PPL (40 points), HUBC (23 points), ENGRO (22 points), PSO (20 points), MTL (19 points), ATRL (17 points), and SYS and TRG (12 points each). The major sectors taking the index towards north remained synthetic and rayon (7 points), and leather and tanneries (4 points). Major companies adding points to the index remained PSEL and IBFL (4 points each), IGIIL and SML (3 points each), and NBP, SHSML, SRVI and JVDC (2 points each).