After witnessing a positive trend in the initial hours of trading, profit-taking erased gains at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), as the benchmark KSE-100 Index ended flat on Wednesday.

The volume and value of shares traded also declined from the previous session.

During the first half of trading, buying was witnessed across index-heavy automobile assemblers, cement, chemicals, commercial banks, fertilisers, oil and gas exploration companies and OMCs.

This pushed the index beyond the 44,000 level.

However, profit-taking in the second half erased the gains, and the benchmark index settled at 43,552.84, down 4.18 points or 0.01%.

Earlier, during the day, a number of factors triggered a positive sentiment among investors, said experts.

A day after record increase, profit-taking dominates PSX as KSE-100 falls 0.78%

“The disbursement of funds by the Central Power Purchasing Authority (CPPA) to Independent Power Plants (IPPS) is positively weighing on the power sector,” Sana Tawfik, an analyst at Arif Habib Limited (AHL), told Business Recorder.

The CPPA has reportedly disbursed Rs142 billion among IPPs in order to reduce the stock of circular debt.

The development is in line with the IMF’s recommendation of reforms and progress in the energy sector after a recently signed staff-level agreement for a Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) amounting to $3 billion.

“The market is expecting approval by the IMF Executive Board in the coming days,” she said. “This would improve the country’s reserves position.”

On the economic front, as per data released by the All-Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), domestic cement sales fell by 29.97% on YoY basis while exports increased by 102.82% from SPLY.

Sectors pulling the benchmark index lower included fertilizer (57.06 points), oil and gas exploration (54.63 points) and automobile assembler (21.60 points).

Volume on the all-share index fell to 351.2 million from 419.3 million on Tuesday, while the value of shares traded declined to Rs12 billion from Rs15.8 billion recorded in the previous session.

Pak Refinery was the volume leader with 27.3 million shares followed by Cnergyico PK with 20.8 million shares and WorldCall Telecom with 16.7 million shares.

Shares of 332 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 146 registered an increase, 162 recorded a fall and 24 remained unchanged.