A seven-session winning streak came to an end with the benchmark KSE-100 Index ceding 228 points as investors resorted to profit-booking on Wednesday.
Riding on the back of a massive buying spree spurred by multiple factors, the KSE-100 opened positive and crossed 61,000 for the first time in history.
However, consolidation and profit-taking kicked in as investors opted to book their gains, pushing the benchmark below the 61,000 level.
The KSE-100, which has posted record gains over the last few weeks, has seen an increase of over 50% this calendar year.
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Earlier, across-the-board buying was witnessed with index-heavy sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, chemical, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs and the refinery sector trading in the green.
On Tuesday, the market hit the then-highest historic levels on the back of aggressive buying by local and foreign investors coupled with institutional support.
The buying spree came on the back of a staff-level agreement reached between Pakistani authorities and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the first review under the nine-month $3 billion Stand-By Arrangement (SBA).
The government believes the IMF’s executive board will give its approval in December, after which Pakistan will receive the second tranche of the SBA.
The funding would also pave way for inflows from other multilateral and bilateral partners.
Experts have said that low valuations coupled with foreign buying is supporting the ongoing market rally. They said that market participants are confident that with economic stability in the country, the Pakistani currency will also stabilise and interest rates will also decline.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee recorded back-to-back gains against the US dollar as it appreciated 0.05% in the inter-bank market on Wednesday. As per the State Bank of Pakistan, the local currency settled at 285.39, an increase of Re0.13.
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 692.2 million from 779.6 million a session before.
The value of shares rose to Rs27 billion from Rs26.1 billion in the previous session.
B.O.Punjab remained the volume leader with 50 million shares, followed by Cnergyico PK with 35.6 million shares and Pak Refinery with 35.4 million shares.
Shares of 387 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 143 registered an increase, 231 recorded a fall, while 13 remained unchanged.