ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Stock Exchange observed a bearish trend on Friday with the benchmark KSE-100 ending the final trading day of the week with a loss of over 300 points.
The market began trading on a positive note, with the benchmark KSE-100 reaching an intra-day high of 119,405.92.
However, profit-taking soon erased the early gains, and the index closed at 118,442.17, down by 327.60 points, or 0.28%.
Selling pressure was seen across key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, power generation, and refineries. Index-heavy stocks such as HUBCO, ARL, MARI, PPL, MCB, MEBL, and NBP all ended in the red.
The stock market had been on a record-breaking rally, driven by optimism about an imminent staff-level agreement (SLA) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
On Friday a total of 369,119,112 shares were entertained as compared to 667,875,803 shares on the last working day, whereas the price of shares stood at Rs 23.273, billion against Rs 38.525 billion on the previous trading day.
As many as 435 companies transacted their shares in the stock market, 193 of them registered gains, and 190 met losses, whereas the share price of 52 companies remained unchanged.
The three top trading companies were Cnergyico PK with 49,087,352 shares at Rs 7.98 per share followed by Pak Refinery with 27,365,824 shares at Rs 38.14 per share whereas Fauji Foods Limited settled with 26,352,530 shares at Rs 16.61 per share.
Unilever Pakistan Foods Limited witnessed a maximum increase of Rs 165.56 per share closing at Rs 23,565.55 whereas Rafhan Maize Products Company Limited was the runner-up with an increase of Rs 61.94 in its share price to close at Rs 9,100.00.
Ghazi Tractors Limited witnessed a maximum decline of Rs 26.40 per share price, closing at Rs 545.30, whereas the runner-up was Lucky Cement Limited with a drop of Rs 21.70 in its per share price to Rs 1,527.79.
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On Thursday, the PSX extended its record-breaking streak as the benchmark KSE-100 Index surpassed the 119,000 mark for the first time, before closing at a new high of 118,769.77.
Meanwhile, international markets saw a decline on Friday, with Asian stocks falling in a subdued end to the week. Deepening geopolitical concerns and fears over US tariffs and their potential impact on the global economy dampened investor risk appetite, keeping gold prices near record highs.
