The Pakistan Stock Exchange has ended Thursday’s session on a negative note, with the benchmark KSE-100 index losing 1,810.76 points, or 3.58 per cent, by the close of the trading session to reach 48,780.81.

Volumes surged for the second day in a row as trading was led by commercial banking stocks.

There were signs of a rebound around 11am, with the index making a high at 34 points above the opening level. However, it failed to sustain this momentum. The benchmark index had slid 4 per cent by noon to the day's low of 48,536, eventually settling at 48,780.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corp commented on the day’s activities, saying: “Panic selling continued amid concerns over unexpected foreign outflows after MSCI Emerging Markets upgrade and pressure in global crude prices on supply glut risks.”

Arhum Ghous of JS Global Capital said: “This pressure in the market was on the back of MSCI Emerging Markets rebalancing and likely redemptions in mutual funds.”

197.1 million shares changed hands by the end of the session, with a total worth of nearly Rs23.6 billion.

Stocks of 388 companies were traded, of which 38 gained in value, 343 declined and 7 remained unchanged.

Volumes were led by:

1. K-Electric Ltd: 49.82m shares traded [-5.19pc];

2. Bank of Punjab: 27.6m shares traded [-15.44pc];

3. Power Cement(R): 23.72m shares traded [-14.58pc];

4. United BankXD: 15.87m shares traded [-4.78pc]; and,

5. Engro Polymer: 12.56m shares traded [-2.48pc].