KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended Thursday’s trading session on a weak note as investors booked profits in several heavyweight banking and energy stocks, erasing early gains and dragging the benchmark index into negative territory.
The KSE-100 index closed at 181,259.68 points, down 369.69 points (0.20%) from the previous session. Trading was volatile throughout the day, with the benchmark moving between an intraday high of 182,276.81 and a low of 179,411.36 before ending below its session peak.
Despite the decline, market activity remained healthy as 470.84 million shares were traded among the constituent companies of the KSE-100, indicating continued investor participation. The benchmark still gave a gain of 0.53% on a fiscal year-to-date basis and is up 4.14% since the start of the calendar year, reflecting resilience despite short-term fluctuations.
Selling pressure was concentrated on major banking and energy counters. Meezan Bank (MEBL), MCB Bank, Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), Engro Holdings (ENGROH) and Askari Bank (AKBL) emerged as the biggest drags on the benchmark, removing significant points from the overall index.
On the positive side, buying interest was seen in select industrial and fertilizer stocks. Ghani Glass (GHNI), Fatima Fertilizer, United Bank Limited (UBL), Cnergyico and Ghani Automobile (GAL) provided partial support to the market, though their gains were insufficient to offset losses elsewhere.
The KMI-30 index, which tracks leading Sharia-compliant companies, also ended in negative territory. The index closed at 255,607.53 points, down 762.23 points or 0.30 percent, after moving between 257,304.20 and 253,140.26 during the session.
The trading volume among the KMI-30 constituencies stood at 154.75 million shares. While the index is down 0.67 percent in the current fiscal year, it is showing a 2.84 percent increase on a calendar year-to-date basis, highlighting that the broader upward trend has not completely reversed.
Within the KMI-30 basket, GHNI, Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL), Ghani Automobile (GAL), Lucky Cement (LUCK) and Attock Refinery (ATRL) were among the strongest contributors to the session. However, declines in Meezan Bank, Pakistan Petroleum, Engro Holdings, Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) and Systems Limited (SYS) more than offset these gains.
Analysts said the latest session reflects a cautious investment environment rather than a broad shift in market sentiment. Investors remain focused on upcoming corporate earnings, macroeconomic indicators and policy developments that could influence the market direction in the coming weeks.
They noted that while intermittent profit-taking is expected after the recent uptick, sustained institutional buying and improving economic indicators could continue to provide medium-term support to Pakistani equities.