The Pakistan Stock Exchange ended Thursday’s trading session on a negative note, with the benchmark KSE-100 index losing 426.30 points, or 0.88 per cent, by the close of trading to reach 47,949.
104.3 million shares changed hands in the session, with a total worth of nearly Rs7.25 billion.
"Another dull session was witnessed as investors trimmed their positions ahead of the Panama decision," said Hammad Aman of Topline Securities. "Moreover, the absence of triggers and [the futures] roll-over week kept pressure on the market."
"During the first half of the session, some interest was seen in oil and gas exploration stocks on the back of an uptick in international oil prices. However, oil stocks came under pressure in the second half due to the aforementioned factors," he added.
"Investor concerns over the outcome of regulatory actions on non-compliant brokerage firms and leverage product issues played a catalyst role in the bearish close," said Ahsan Mehanti, analyst at Arif Habib Corp.
Stocks of 363 companies in all were traded, of which 84 gained in value, 266 declined and 13 remained unchanged.
Volumes were led by commercial banks and textile composite company stocks as the continued bearish sentiment pushed the benchmark index below the 48,000 mark.
Volumes were led by:
Azgard Nine: 34m shares traded [+6.63pc];
Bank of Punjab: 25.6m shares traded [-6.23pc];
Jahangir Siddiqui Co: 19.9m shares traded [+4.22pc];
K-Electric Ltd: 10m shares traded [-1.56pc]; and,
TRG Pak Ltd: 9.79m shares traded [-4.99pc].
