Pakistan’s equity market extended its decline for a second straight session on Tuesday, with selling pressure deepening across the board.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index shed 1,432 points, or 0.85 percent, to close at 166,258. Since touching an all-time high near 189,000, the index has now retreated by almost 23,000 points.

Volatility was pronounced during early trading hours, when the market briefly plunged by as much as 5,329 points (down 3.15 percent), dragging the index to an intraday low of 163,907 before some recovery emerged later in the session.

Total market turnover stood at around 345 million shares, with the overall traded value reaching Rs. 31.57 billion.

According to Topline Securities, the market has formally entered correction territory. The brokerage’s CEO, Mohammed Sohail, noted that since June 2023—when the index hovered around 40,000 following Pakistan’s agreement with the International Monetary Fund—the market surged nearly 4.7 times in a historic rally.

He pointed out that the index has previously undergone corrections of more than 10 percent on three occasions—December 2023, May 2025, and the current phase—and recovered each time as macroeconomic and political conditions remained broadly stable.

Sohail said the latest sell-off does not appear to be linked to any major economic shock. Instead, it seems driven by heavier-than-usual foreign selling, concerns related to the Reko Diq project, weaker corporate earnings, and the unwinding of stock futures positions. Despite the pullback, he added that valuations remain attractive at forward price-to-earnings levels near 8, emphasizing that an 11 percent decline represents a correction rather than the start of a bear market.

Market breadth remained negative, as shares of 567 companies changed hands. Of these, 139 closed higher, 292 ended lower, while prices of 136 stocks remained unchanged.

On the activity front, K-Electric topped the volumes chart for the second consecutive day, with more than 64 million shares traded.