Karachi: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) benchmark 100-index lost 663 points. KSE-100 started session positive, hitting an intra-day high of 73,866.45. However, uncertainty kicked in and drove index into negative territory.

At close, benchmark index settled at 72,589.49, down by 663.07 points or 0.91 percent. Selling was witnessed in commercial banks, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, refinery and construction sectors.Index-heavy stocks including OGDC, PPL, SHEL, SNGPL, PRL, HBL, MCB and MEBL were in red.Volume on all-share index decreased to 372.54 million from 350.72 million session ago. Value of shares rose to Rs 11.65 billion from Rs 10.18 billion in previous session. K-Electric Ltd was volume leader with 45.9 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 33.25 million shares and Pervez Ahmed Co with 29.02 million shares.Shares of 431 companies were traded on Tuesday, of which 107 registered an increase, 263 recorded fall while 61 remained unchanged.

Pressure comes amid uncertainty among market stakeholders over measures to be announced in upcoming budget for fiscal year 2024-25, which is to be presented today.Globally, Asian stocks were in guarded mood on Tuesday as investors’ pondered fresh political uncertainty in European markets after right-wing gains in elections and snap poll in France revived concerns about cohesion of bloc. Moves were mostly modest, with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipping 0.5 percent in thin trade. Chinese blue chips fell 1.2 percent, having been shut on Monday, while yuan hit seven-month low.