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The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended Thursday's trading session on a flat note, with the benchmark KSE-100 index recovering intraday losses to close down by a mere 16.17 points, or 0.03pc, at 48,299.51.
The day had started with the bears pulling the index below the 48,000 barrier to the day's low of 47,774.44, before foreign investors started buying into the oversold market to help recoup some of the day's losses.
101 million shares of indexed companies changed hands in the session, with a total worth of nearly Rs7.56 billion.
364 scrips in total were traded on the exchange, of which 151 gained in value, 198 declined and 15 remained unchanged.
Volumes were led by:
K-Electric Ltd: 28.5m shares traded (-0.77pc);
Bank of Punjab: 16.4m shares traded (+6.80pc);
Sui North Gas: 7.76m shares traded (+1.56pc);
TRG Pak Ltd: 5.84m shares traded (+0.40pc); and,
Power Cement Ltd: 5.56m shares traded (+1.62pc).
"Stocks closed lower amid pressure in cement and auto stocks amidst post earnings season profit-taking," analyst Ahsan Mehanti said.
"Late session interest in banking and oil stocks supported the index to close above session lows after WTI crude prices surged to near $50 per barrel on output cuts and on reports of rising banking spreads," Mehanti added.
"Concerns for leverage issues and uncertainty over the outcome of the Panamagate case played a catalyst role in bearish activity," he added.
An analyst note from Fahad Qasim of Topline Securities noted that selling in banking stocks had pushed the KSE-100 down 531 points at one point to a low of 47,774, "the lowest low in 2017."
"The dip opened up valuations and foreigners swooped in, buying up $5.0m in banking stocks, recouping losses and helping the market recover to close flat," the note read.
