Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained under selling pressure on Monday amid uncertainty regarding government measures in the upcoming budget, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index losing 465.55 points (-0.61 percent) to close at 75,517.48 points. The market opened on a positive note and gained over 200 points within a few minutes. However, the index soon witnessed selling that pushed the index into the negative territory. The bulls did bounce back for some time, but couldn’t sustain the selling pressure. Selling was witnessed in key sectors including cement, chemical, commercial banks, fertilizer, oil and gas exploration companies, oil and gas marketing companies, and power generation and distribution. Arif Habib Limited (AHL), one of the top brokerage houses, said in a report, “As the government prepares to announce budget FY25 on June 7th, 2024, it is strongly believed that fiscal discipline will take precedence over populist spending. The upcoming budget, likely to be in line with IMF demands, may lack ‘significant’ relief measures for the public. It is expected that the upcoming budget will center on initiatives aimed at broadening the tax base, thereby almost meeting revenue targets.” According to Topline Securities, another brokerage house, said that investors opted to trim their stock positions near 76,000 points. “A relatively lackluster momentum has been witnessed during business hours in the backdrop of budgetary concerns and mixed IMF vibes,” it said. The market has turned in a cautious performance as investors look for fresh positive triggers ahead of the monetary policy meeting and budget announcement. The benchmark index has surged by 84.06 percent during the last one year and 16.79 percent during the current year. The benchmark index traded in a range of 701.82 points, showing an intraday high of 76,187.44 points and an intraday low of 75,485.62 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 294.77 points (-0.60 percent) to close at 48,909.83 points. Similarly, the KMI All Share Islamic Index shed 198.30 points (-0.57 percent) to close at 34,745.99 points. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index remained 195.3 million shares, while the overall market volumes remained 446.07 million shares. Among scrips, KEL topped the volumes with 55.6 million shares, followed by SYM (40.66 million) and WTL (29.47 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included KEL, SYM, WTL, DCL and HUMNL, which formed around 37 percent of total volumes. A total of 405 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of which shares of 123 closed up, shares of 230 companies closed down while shares of 52 companies remained unchanged. A total of 99 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index, out of which share prices of 25 companies closed up, 69 companies closed down and five remained unchanged. The number of total trades remained 210,440, while the value traded was recorded at Rs16.41 billion. In terms of rupee, EXIDE remained the top gainer with an increase of Rs37.66 (+8 percent) per share, closing at Rs508.35. The runner-up remained PSEL, the share price of which climbed up by Rs24.59 (+3.14 percent) to Rs806.97. SHSML remained the top loser with a decrease of Rs45.43 (-8 percent) per share, closing at Rs522.41, followed by MUREB, the share price of which fell by Rs13.21 (-2.98 percent) to close at Rs430.39 per share. The major sectors taking the index towards south remained fertilizer (108 points), oil & gas exploration companies (100 points), cement (67 points), power generation & distribution (61 points), commercial banks (41 points), oil & gas marketing companies (26 points), investment banks/investment companies/ securities companies (24 points), pharmaceuticals (19 points), engineering (16 points), and chemicals (13 points).