The Pakistan Stock Exchange ended flattish on Tuesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 index gaining 18 points, or 0.04 per cent, by the close of the session to reach 49,453.

"Volatility continued at the local bourse amid declining market participation on the back of heightened monitoring by the regulator," Hammad Aman of Topline Securities said.

100.8 million shares of indexed stocks changed hands during the session, with a total worth of nearly Rs8.4 billion.

237m shares in all were traded on the PSX, with a total worth of nearly Rs11.4 billion.

Stocks of 381 companies were traded on the exchange, of which 127 gained in value, 235 declined and 19 remained unchanged.

The most activity was seen in commercial banks, with power generation, oil and gas marketing, textile and chemical companies rounding off the top five sectors traded.

Volumes were led by:

1. K_Electric Ltd.: 23.9m shares traded (-0.4pc);

2. Azgard Nine: 19.1m shares traded (-6.11pc);

3. Sui North Gas: 15.3m shares traded (+3.72pc);

4. Lotte Chemical: 13.5m shares traded (-0.08pc); and,

5. Pak Refinery: 12.3m shares traded (+4.99pc).