ISLAMABAD, May 28 (Xinhua) -- The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) recorded major bearish trends on Tuesday as investors opted to sell their holdings in the wake of a rebalancing act by the Morgan Stanley Capital Index (MSCI), which took effect on May 28.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange's benchmark KSE 100-Index slumped by 2.10 percent, or 748.09 points, to close at 34,949.28 points on Tuesday when compared with 35,697.37 points reported on Monday.

The key index is currently trading 33.90 percent, or 17,927.18 points, below its all-time historic peak of 52,876.46 points achieved on May 24, 2017, when the Pakistani equity market was filled with the confidence following its inclusion in the Morgan Stanley Capital International's Emerging Markets Index on the back of a strong unprecedented bullish momentum during the year.

The month of May has proved to be heavily-favoring bears as the main index slid by 4.99 percent, or 1,835.16 points, from 36,784.44 points on May 1, 2019, to 34,949.28 points on May 28, 2019. The month of May has registered only seven bullish trading sessions as against 12 bearish trading days.

During the ongoing year, the main index has lost 5.71 percent, or 2,117.39 points, from 37,066.67 points on Jan. 1, 2019, to 34,949.28 points on May 28, 2019.

The key index depleted by 16.61 percent, or 6,961.62 points, since the start of the fiscal year of 2018-19 from 41,910.90 points on July 1, 2018, to 34,949.28 points on May 28, 2019.

During Tuesday's trading session, the main index traveled in an expanded range of 804.77 points as it touched an intraday high of 35,703.36 points as against an intraday low of 34,898.59 points.

The KSE All-Share Index fell by 1.37 percent, or 354.53 points, to close at 25,578.90 points, the KSE 30-Index trimmed down by 2.60 percent or 442.98 points to end at 16,601.94 points, the KMI 30-Index plunged by 2.81 percent, or 1,618.82 points, to conclude at 55,997.12 points, whereas the Islamic All-Share Index plummeted by 2.24 percent, or 375.68 points, to finish the trading session at 16,377.87 points.

Muhammad Faizan, Head of Foreign Institutional Sales at Next Capital Limited in the port city of Karachi said that a wide sell-off was seen at the bourse as investors became weary of holding positions through the upcoming holiday season and opted to reduce their holdings in the backdrop of MSCI's rebalancing act.

He further stated that cement stocks remained under pressure after news reports of disagreements within the cement cartel on price issue. The prices of cement are expected to remain under pressure in the coming days. Dera Ghazi Khan Cement closed lower 4.92 percent, Maple Leaf Cement Factory Limited plunged 4.93 percent, whereas Fauji Cement Company Limited declined 5.19 percent.

The losses were largely attributed to MSCI's semi-annual review which took place earlier this month, but took effect on Tuesday. The rebalancing removed three Pakistani companies, including Fauji Cement (FCCL), Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited (FFBL) and International Industries Limited (ISL) from the MSCI small-cap index, which invited massive selling pressure in their scrips.

Market volumes improved by 21.62 percent, or 27.077 million shares, to 152.298 million shares on Tuesday when compared with the trading of 125.221 million shares posted on Monday.

Market capitalization shrank by 1.37 percent, or 98.220 billion rupees (656.991 million U.S. dollars), to 7.086 trillion rupees on Tuesday when compared with a market capitalization worth 7.185 trillion rupees posted on Monday.

Market value jacked up by 46.18 percent, or 2.318 billion rupees, to close at 7.336 billion rupees on Tuesday as against Monday's figure of 5.018 billion rupees.

Among 327 active scrips on Tuesday, the prices of 238 issues finished lower, 70 ended higher, whereas values of 19 other listed companies stayed unchanged for the day.

Fauji Cement Company Limited, Bank of Punjab XD, and Unity Foods Limited were the top traded companies with turnovers of 12.033 million shares, 10.356 million shares, and 7.904 million shares, respectively.

Unilever Foods Limited emerged as the top price gainer of the day with an increment of 276.00 rupees to close at 5,980.00 rupees while on the flip side Rafhan Maize Products Limited XD led the major price shedders with a decrement of 324.50 rupees to finish the trading session at 6,180.00 rupees. (1 U.S. dollar = 149.50 rupees) Enditem