The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained bearish for the third straight session on Tuesday due to resignation of special assistant to the prime minister on power and petroleum and sell-off in international equity markets, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding 519.36 points (-1.12 percent) to close at 46,008.85 points. The market opened on a positive note and this positiveness remained more or less intact except for the last hour trading where news of SAPM Tabish Gauhar’s resignation plunged the cautious market. The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 1,055 points, showing an intraday high of 46,833.1 points and a low of 45,778.1 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 369.63 points (-1.16 percent) to close at 31,490.64 points, while All Share Islamic Index shed 378.9 points (-1.67 percent) to close at 22,348.32 points. A total of 382 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 90 closed up, shares of 275 closed down while shares of 17 companies remained unchanged. Out of 97 traded companies in the KSE-100 Index, 15 closed up, 79 closed down, while three remained unchanged. The overall market volumes increased by 131.16 million to 325.88 million shares. Total volume traded for the KSE-100 Index was 132.43 million shares. The number of total trades increased by 25,950 to 114,864, while the value traded increased by Rs4.24 billion to Rs12.32 billion. The market capitalisation decreased by Rs96.17 billion. Among scrips, TELE led the volume chart with 28.12 million shares, followed by WTL (26.43 million) and TPL (21.44 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include TELE, WTL, TPL, BYCO and TRG, which formed 33 percent of total volumes. Sector wise, the index was let down by cement with 101 points, technology and communication with 81 points, commercial banks with 45 points, fertiliser with 39 points and oil & gas exploration companies with 34 points. The most points taken off the index were by SYS which stripped the index of 53 points followed by MEBL with 37 points, HBL with 34 points, LUCK with 32 points and TRG with 23 points. The sectors propping up the index were insurance with three points. The most points added to the index were by HMB which contributed 18 points followed by MCB with 18 points, BAFL with 14 points, ANL with 14 points and COLG with seven points. According to experts, investors took to the sidelines as they monitored a sell-off in international financial markets coupled with rising commodity prices. A broader sell-off in the global equity markets due to fears from the mounting problems at China’s embattled property giant Evergrande also affected local bourse. They said that the market posted an increase of 305 points during the session early on; however, it lost that gain and by the end of session lost a total of 1,055 points (including the erosion of 305 points earned earlier). At closing, the market saw a steep decline. Selling was witnessed across the board, with heavy implications on technology and cement sectors. Despite low leverage levels in the market in DFC, MTS and MFS segments, the index melted due to calls of redemption at Mutual Funds. Regardless of the steep decline in Index, overall trading volumes remained low compared to the hay days seen in outgoing fiscal, they added.