KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued its downward slide on second consecutive day, Tuesday, as the benchmark KSE 100-share index shed another 741 points.

The market saw a lackluster session yesterday, punctuated with low volumes and an overall negative sentiment. The index suffered an intra-day low of 928 points and eventually made a partial recovery to close at 41,233 points, dealers said.

AICL (down 3.67%) from the insurance sector declared its result for 1H2017, posting EPS of Rs3.03 and DPS of Rs1.5. SSGC (up 2.34%) and SNGP (1.68%) closed in the green zone for a second consecutive day amid a declining market. Commercial banks bore heavily on the index, led by negativity in HBL (down 5%) and the other banks came tumbling after, observed analyst at JS Global.

Total contribution from the entire sector was 288 points negative, with UBL (down 2.02%) and MCB (2.54%) among the other major losers. Negativity in heavyweight stocks such as HBL and MARI (down 5%) in the midst of bearish sentiment led by political factors is expected to add to the woes of the market.

Market experts attributed the continued sell-off to the US's decision to seek a hefty penalty for HBL Bank, one of the largest lenders in the country, for failing to comply with regulations in the US. Global equities sell-off over a new missile test by North Korea contributed to the negativity.

Volumes stood at 130m shares compared to 103m shares of the previous day, while traded value stood at Rs6b/$57m.

TRG Pak Ltd led volume with 16m shares traded, followed by Azgard Nine with 13.9m shares traded and Sui South Gas with 7.7m shares traded were in spotlight in the session.

Scrips of total 380 active companies participated in the session of which 306 closed in decline, 61 in advance while 13 remained unchanged.