KARACHI: The Pakistan Stocks closed lower on Monday amid thin trade on political uncertainty, surging government bond yield and slump in the global equities.

The economic uncertainty, hike in the local power tariff and rupee instability played a catalyst role in bearish close, dealers said.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that a range bound session was observed today due to political unrest.

“The market opened in the green zone and stayed volatile throughout the day where main board activity remained dull. On the flip-side, activity continued to remain side-ways as the market witnessed hefty volumes in the third tier stocks,” he added.

In the last trading hour, across the board selling was witnessed which led the index to close in the red zone.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares Index shed 0.66 per cent, or 286.44 points, to close at 43,366.89 points. The KSE-30 shares Index shed 0.91 per cent, or 155.29 points, to close at 16,820.79 points.

As many as 334 scrips were active of which 79 advanced, 242 declined and 13 remained unchanged.

The ready market volumes stood at 115.18 million shares, compared with the turnover of 149.29 million shares in the last trading session.

The companies which reflected the highest gains included Bata (Pak) up Rs48.88 to close at Rs2,088.88/share, and Ismail Ind up Rs20.43 to close at Rs549.99/share.

The companies that reflected the most losses included Colgate Palm down Rs97 to close at Rs2,200/share, and Sapphire Fiber down Rs57.01 to close at Rs720/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in Flying Cement(R) with a turnover of 11.63 million shares. The scrip shed 10 paisas to close at Rs0.16/share, followed by Pak Elektron(R) with a turnover of 8.14 million shares. It gained 18 paisas to close at Rs2/share. Ghani Glo Hol remained the third with a turnover of 7.02 million shares. It shed 64 paisas to finish at Rs14.68/share.