Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed another day of a correction and succumbed to selling pressure on Wednesday, as benchmark KSE-100 lost 226.29 points to close at 45,676.94 index level. The index began the session on a negative note as pessimism gripped the investors, which continued throughout the session owing to series of news-flow. The selling pressure was primarily triggered due to redemption at mutual funds, which prompted selling activity in banks, Exploration &Production, power, cement and oil & gas marketing stocks. Textile sector also saw selling pressure, partly due to yet another deferral of the most-awaited textile policy. Moreover, investors also speculated ahead of monetary policy announcement by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) which is set to be revealed on Friday. While most of the brokerage houses have projected and hinted towards no change in policy rate by the State Bank, investors chose not to inculcate that in their trading activity. SBP Governor Dr Reza Baqir will address the media after announcing the policy rate, which has been kept unchanged since July at 7 per cent. The upcoming monetary policy is highly important for the financial sector as well as the entire economy since inflation slipped slightly in December and could see further decline in January. During the session, the benchmark KSE-100 Index registered its intraday low at 45,545.43 after losing 357.80 points. The volume at Kse-100 reduced from 224.06 million shares recorded in the previous session, to 219 million shares, while all-share volume also reduced from 491.79 million shares in the previous session to 476.62 million shares. The volume chart was led by Silk Bank Limited, Unity Foods Limited and Hum Network Limited. The scrips exchanged 42.71 million, 41.06 million and 38.64 million shares, respectively. According to the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited foreign investors’ sold $0.15 million worth of shares. Among local investors the selling chart was led by Mutual Funds, which off-loaded $10.7 million of equities, while Brokers and Insurance companies were also net sellers of worth $0.77 million and $0.36 million worth of equities. Sectors that dented the index were Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 64 points, Fertilizer with 49 points, Commercial Banks with 47 points, Cement with 32 points and Technology & Communication with 27 points. Among the scrip, the most points taken off the index was by Oil & Gas Development Company Limited which stripped the index of 35 points followed by Hub Power Company Limited with 33 points, ENGRO with 30 points, Muslim Commercial Bank with 25 points and Pakistan Petroleum Limited with 23 points. However, sector that continued to resist the pressure and weighed up the index, were Vanaspati & Allied Industries with 23 points, Miscellaneous with 9 points, Oil & Gas Marketing Companies with 9 points, Chemical with 7 points and Tobacco with 7 points. Among the scrips, the most points added to the index was by Habib Bank Limited which contributed 35 points followed by Unity Foods Limited with 23 points, Mari Petroleum with 9 points, Shifa International Hospitals Limited with 9 points and Pakistan Tobacco Company Limited with 7 points.