Pakistan equities closed Monday on a bearish note at the 35,169 level after the benchmark KSE 100 Index shed 404 points (-1.1percent). During the session, the local bourse made a high and low of +52 points and -462 points, respectively. The market came under duress as discussions on the Budget 2019-20 took place at Parliament on Monday. An equity analyst at Next Capital said Pakistani equities stopped the rally, shedding 1.14%, being its first loss after three consecutive positive sessions. The loss could be attributed to profit-taking by some investors after days of position-taking. The US dollar hit all time high against the Pakistani rupee, gaining more than Re 1 in the interbank bank. Furthermore, Fitch Ratings has not improved Pakistan’s credit rating despite a staff-level agreement between Islamabad and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Cements, E&Ps, and financials were the major laggards during today’s session. Mixed sentiments were seen in cements where LUCK (-2.0%) and FCCL (-2.2%) closed in the red. PPL (-1.3%) and OGDC (-1.5%) were the major laggards in the E&Ps. Commercial banks also showed weak performance where HBL (-0.4), UBL (-0.9%), MCB (-1.9%) and BAHL (-1.6%) closed in the red zone. Traded value stood at $32 million, down 34 percent and volume stood at 128 million shares, down 24 percent. Furthermore, major contribution to total market volume came from MLCF (+4.3%) and TRG (+0.2%). “We expect market to remain choppy and volatile until the budget is passed from the National Assembly,” said Maaz Mulla, an equity analyst.