The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) endured another negative session on Friday as its benchmark KSE-100 closed 266 points lower amid selling pressure.
The KSE-100 started the session positive, hitting an intra-day high of 65,534.02. However, profit-taking in the second half weighed on the market and pushed it into the negative territory.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 65,151.83, down by 265.57 points or 0.41%.
On Thursday, the KSE-100 had closed lower by 314.39 points as investors decided to cash in some profit around the 66,000-point level.
In a key development, the Special Apex Committee of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) on Thursday vowed to ensure the continuation of policies and take “tough decisions” in the larger interest of the country by setting correct economic priorities.
According to the PM Office, the committee was briefed about the SIFC initiative and major contributions made towards the investments, privatisation and overall micro-economic stabilisation of the country.
The government may also look for a longer bailout programme from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The Petroleum Division also revised its gas supply priorities by removing captive power plants from its list of prioritised sectors - a move aimed at conforming to the IMF agreement.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee registered marginal improvement against the US dollar, appreciating 0.1% in the inter-bank market on Friday. At close, the local unit settled at 278.14, up by Re0.27 against the greenback, as per the State Bank of Pakistan.
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 208.40 million from 389.65 million a session ago.
The value of shares declined to Rs7.15 billion from Rs11.30 billion in the previous session.
Pak Reinsurance was the volume leader with 24.16 million shares, followed by P.I.A.C.(A) with 16.54 million shares, and P.T.C.L. with 10.93 million shares.
Shares of 332 companies were traded on Friday, of which 120 registered an increase, 185 recorded a fall, while 27 remained unchanged.