The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a range-bound session on Thursday, as its benchmark KSE-100 Index closed slightly lower by 50 points.

During the day, the KSE-100 swayed between positive and negative territories, ending the session in red amid lack of triggers.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 45,757.24, down by 50.34 points or 0.11%.

“Market sentiment was directionless on the back of yesterday’s T-bills auction where massive increase in (162bps in 3 months & 213bps in 1 year) cutoff yields have been witnessed, indicating an increase of 1-2% in interest rates in the upcoming Monetary Policy, scheduled on Sep 14,” stated brokerage house Topline Securities in its daily market report.

Bank, cement, and technology sectors contributed negatively to the index as LUCK, UBL, BAFL, BAHL & SYS lost 134 points, cumulatively. On the flip side, DAWH, PPL & PSO gained 99 points due to some buying interest in them, according to the brokerage house.

On Wednesday, the PSX had witnessed a positive session as a late-session buying spree on the back of rupee gaining ground in the open market pushed the benchmark KSE-100 Index higher by over 300 points.

The Pakistani rupee strengthened further against the US dollar to settle at 304.94 in the inter-bank market on Thursday. At close, the rupee was up Rs2.04 or 0.67%, as per the State Bank of Pakistan.

In the open market also, the domestic currency maintained its upward trajectory against the dollar, as gap with the inter-bank rate narrowed further.

Volume on the all-share index increased to 177.1 million from 139.71 million on Wednesday.

The value of shares rose to Rs7.582 billion from Rs4.813 billion in the previous session.

Pak Petroleum remained the volume leader with 13.141 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 10.995 million shares and Kot Addu Power with 10.982 million shares.

Shares of 323 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 139 registered an increase, 162 recorded a fall, and 22 remained unchanged.