The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) endured a dull session on Tuesday as its benchmark KSE-100 Index fell over 200 points on lack of participation from investors.

The KSE-100 started positive on reports of $25 billion investment from the Middle East in next 5 years, hitting an intra-day high of 45,950.68.

However, profit-taking by investors curbed the gains and pushed the index into negative territory.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 45,491.49, down by 215.94 points or 0.47%.

On Monday, the KSE-100 had gained nearly 400 points on positive sentiment after reports of a meeting between business leaders and Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir.

“[On Tuesday,] Pakistan Equities observed a day with mix vibes amidst the low volumes,” brokerage house Topline Securities stated in its daily market report.

Banks, E&P, and power contributed negatively as BAHL, OGDC, PPL, HUBC, PPL and UBL were the major laggards on Tuesday as they lost 137 points, cumulatively, according to the brokerage house.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee sustained back-to-back losses against the US dollar to settle at a new record low of 307.1 in the inter-bank on Tuesday. At close, the rupee was down Rs1.46 or 0.48%, as per the State Bank of Pakistan. However, the local currency significantly gained in the open market.

Volume on the all-share index decreased to 123.24 million from 139.25 million on Monday.

The value of shares declined to Rs3.689 billion from Rs4.476 billion in the previous session.

WorldCall Telecom remained the volume leader with 21.839 million shares, followed by Maple Leaf with 8.453 million shares and Pak Refinery with 4.725 million shares.

Shares of 297 companies were traded on Tuesday, of which 104 registered an increase, 164 recorded a fall, and 29 remained unchanged.