KARACHI: The first day of the week on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a declining trend with the benchmark index dropping 647.89 points or 1.46 per cent to close at 43,829.35 points as foreigners continued selling stocks unabated.

According to Topline Securities, TRG Pakistan Ltd alone dented the KSE-100 index by 118.55 points. The stock dragged the index down as investors reacted to the news of a global tax deal that sought to end safe tax havens.

Other main reasons for the tumbling PSX included investors` concerns about high energy and commodity prices as well as the likelihood of further electricity tariff hikes, which can lead to the erosion of purchasing power and trigger an economic contraction, according to Arif Habib Ltd.

However, the increase ininternational oil prices failed to have any material impact on the prices of energy exploration and production companies. Selling pressure was witnessedacross the board, although technology, cement, and oil and gas marketing companies mainly contributed to the downwardtrend.

Among scrips, WorldCallTelecom Ltd led the table with 41.3 million shares, followed by TeleCard Ltd (13.8m shares) and Treet Corporation (9.4m shares).

Sectorscontributednega-tively to the PSX`s performance included technology (202 points), cement (121 points), banks (56 points), engineering (49 points) and oil and gas marketing com-panies (36 points).

The traded volume increased 29pc from 176.1m shares last Friday to 226.6m shares. The average traded value also increase d 21pc to reach $48.4m.

Besides WorldCall Telecom Ltd, TeleCard Ltd and Treet Corporation, stocks that contributed significantly to the traded volume included Hum Network Ltd and TRG Pakistan, forming 35pc of the total volume.

Shares that contributed positively to the index included Pakistan Petroleum (21 points), ColgatePalmolive Pakistan Ltd (nine points), Hub Power Company (eight points), Allied Bank Ltd (seven points) and Feroze1888 Mills Ltd (seven points).

Stocks that contributed negatively included TRG Pakistan (119 points), Systems Ltd (68 points), Lucky Cement Ltd (26 points), Fauji Fertiliser Company (25 points) and Unity Foods (25 points).