The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday experienced a dull trading session, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index plunging 186 points to 41,409.
Despite some positive movement in the first hour of the trading session, the index could not maintain momentum. It hit a day's high of 41,746 points and then proceed to bottom at 41,355 points near the end of the session.
Volumes slipped to 139.8 million shares valued at around Rs6.9 billion. Of the 369 traded symbols, 125 advanced, 224 declined and 20 remained unchanged.
Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said that stocks had closed bearish amid pressure in the futures rollover week and because of investor concerns on the prevailing political uncertainty in the country.
"Institutional support was seen in selected cement, banking and pharma stocks because of rising local cement prices, upbeat financial results and levy of higher regulatory import duties," he said.
Concerns over a dismal economic outlook and surging trade deficit played a catalyst role in the bearish close, he said.
Engineering sector dominated the market with around 20m shares traded. Banking and textile sectors followed with and 16.7m and 15.6m shares traded, respectively.
Volumes were led by:
Azgard Nine: 13.6m shares traded [+0.28pc];
Pak Elektron: 10m shares traded [-5.00pc];
Aisha Steel Mill: 8m shares traded [-3.48pc];
B.O.Punjab: 7.9m shares traded [-3.25pc];
TRG Pak Ltd: 7.2m shares traded [-1.29pc].
