LAHORE - The bourse started its week on a negative note as benchmark KSE-100 index closed 98 points lower at 40,771 levels.

PSX made an intraday low of -205 points in today’s trading session. Traded volumes remained dull with 135mn shares changing hands. POWER (+3.06%), LOTCHEM (-2.04%) and PAEL (-5%) led the volume with almost 35mn shares changing hands.

On the economic front, the budget deficit continues to grow despite the government’s austerity drive and increased to 1.4 percent of GDP during the first three months of the current fiscal year as opposed to 1.2 percent for the same period a year before.

Profit booking was witnessed in the cement sector where major players such as LUCK (-2.18%), MLCF (-1.64%), CHCC (-1.32%) and FCCL (-1.19%) lost value to close in the red zone. Banking space closed higher than its previous day where big banks cumulatively contributed +46 points to the index. HBL (+1.56%), UBL (+0.56%) and MCB (+0.26%) closed in the green belt. Moving ahead, experts expect the market to remain under pressure as roll over week has started. Moreover monetary policy is also to be announced this week so experts recommend investors to go for consolidation and view any downside as an opportunity to buy cement and banking stocks.