Bears returned to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday, pushing the benchmark KSE-100 index down 117 points, or 0.28 per cent, to close at 41,207.
The index lost over 450 points in the early hours of trading to touch a day's low of 41,363 as volumes remained restricted amidst heavy rainfall in Karachi, the country's financial hub, and as investors chose to play safe ahead of Eidul Azha holidays. However, it bounced back in the second half to cross the 43,000 mark.
Nearly 70.6 million shares valued at Rs5.42 billion were traded in the market. 196 of a total of 320 symbols advanced, 109 declined and 15 remained unchanged.
Foreign outflows, concerns over weak Pak-US relations and the recent penalty on Habib Bank Limited by New York State Department "invited pressure in the banking sector" and led to Thursday's bearish close, Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said in an analyst's note.
Commercial banks dominated the day's trading with 10.1m shares traded, while technology and engineering sectors followed with 9.4m and 6.0m shares traded respectively.
Volumes were led by:
TRG Pak Ltd: 7.6m shares traded [+4.46pc]
United Bank Ltd: 4.1m shares traded [-1.86pc]
Azgard Nine: 3.7m shares traded [+3.67pc]
K-Electric Ltd: 3.6m shares traded [-0.49pc]
Aisha Steel Mill: 3.0m shares traded [+4.97pc]
