The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed nearly flat on Wednesday following a volatile trading session that saw early gains erased by profit-taking later in the day.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index initially climbed 396.97 points (0.25%) amid positive investor sentiment but ended the day down by 3.13 points, closing at 156,177.81.
Buying interest was observed early on in key sectors such as automobiles, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, oil marketing companies (OMCs), and refineries.
Major index-heavy stocks including Attock Refinery Limited (ARL), Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL), Oil & Gas Development Company (OGDC), Pakistan Oilfields (POL), Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), HBL, MCB, and UBL traded in the green during the session.
This came after Tuesday’s session, in which the PSX extended its winning streak, driven by investor optimism following reassuring comments from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) regarding the economic outlook, despite the impact of flooding in Eastern Punjab.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee continued to strengthen against the US dollar, marking its 29th consecutive session of gains. The rupee appreciated marginally by Re0.01, closing at 281.50 in the inter-bank market on Wednesday.
