The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday landed in the red, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding 469 points — 1.3 per cent — to close at 35,505.

The market opened on a negative note and maintained the mood throughout the session. The opening at 35,974.8 remained the day's high. The benchmark hit a day's low at 35,425 near the end of the session.

Volumes dropped significantly from 176.4 million shares traded in the last session to 92.6m shares changing hands today.

The value of shares traded also dropped sharply from Rs8.5 billion in the last session to Rs4.4bn today.

Senior analyst Mohammad Faizan Munshey said, "Pakistan stocks fell sharply in the last trading session ahead of the holiday season, dragged down by shares of cement, oil and chemical scrips."

"Oil prices fell more than one per cent in the international market on Monday," he noted.

As per market chatter, a meeting of cement manufacturers had once again ended without any consensus on pricing, he said.

According to a JS Global Securities report, the market will remain under pressure till the budget for 2019-20 is presented soon after Eidul Fitr holidays.

Exploration and production (E&P) and cement stocks were the major laggards today, with Dera Ghazi Khan Cement (DGKC) shares shedding 4.6pc of their value, Pioneer Cement Ltd (PIOC) down 4.1pc, Fauji Cement Company Limited (FCCL) shedding 3.9pc of its value, and Lucky Cement Ltd (LUCK) shedding 2.6pc of its share value.

"Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) shares shed 2.3pc of their value, Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) (down 4.1pc) ended negative, whereas Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL), down 5pc, closed limit down as international oil prices extended losses due to aggressive United States trade policies," read the report.

According to the report, mixed sentiments were seen in the commercial banking sector, where Habib Bank Limited (HBL) shares gained 3.2pc in value during the trading session and MCB Bank Limited gained 3.3pc to close in the green zone, but United Bank Limited (UBL) shares shed -0.5pc of their value to close negative.

Another market review report from Topline Securities held lower international oil prices responsible for the negativity in the capital market. "Fertilizer scrips remained under pressure as concerns on urea hike are increasing, where the government is demanding from manufacturers to cut down urea prices by Rs150-190 per bag."

The Bank of Pakistan remained the market leader in today's trading session by recording trade volume of above 25m shares.