The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended nearly flat on Thursday, with the benchmark KSE-100 index shedding only three points, or 0.01 per cent, by the close of the trading session to reach 45,906.

The index touched the day's low at 45,758 points an hour after trading opened. However, it soon recovered, reaching the day's high of 46,025.

Trading activity was led by banking scrips, with 31.6 million shares traded during the session. The textile sector and chemical sector followed with 23.6m and 11.5m respectively.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said that the benchmark closed flat as investors were awaiting the Supreme Court verdict on the Panamagate case following the joint investigation team's probe into the Sharif family's assets.

"Oil stocks outperformed amid surging global crude prices," he added.

Concerns over political uncertainty, dismal corporate performance in the fertiliser sector, and foreign outflows were catalysts for the bearish close at the PSX, he concluded.

A report from Topline Securities also said that the KSE‐100 index continued to trade in a narrow range and closed almost similar to yesterday's performance.

Participation dipped with volumes falling 10pc to 159m shares while traded value shed 24pc to Rs6.3 billion/US$60m, the report said.

The food sector added 41 points, power 27, and the energy and power sector 1. The fertiliser sector shed 26 points, cement 19 and oil marketing companies 17 points, the report said.

Topline added that UBL (‐0.6pc) Earnings Per Share were Rs4.7 in the second quarter of 2017, down 18pc year-on-year in line with market expectations. The bank declared a dividend of Rs3/share.

A total of 73.4m shares of changed hands in the KSE-100 index during the session, with a total worth of nearly Rs4.1bn.

The stocks of 372 companies were traded in total, of which 132 gained in value, 221 declined and 19 remained unchanged.

Volumes were led by:

B.O.Punjab: 27.0m shares traded [-1.85pc].

Azgard Nine: 17.9m shares traded [-4.39pc];

Sui South Gas: 8.7m shares traded [-1.97pc];

Byco Petroleum: 8.3m shares traded [+4.40pc];

TRG Pak Ltd: 0.33m shares traded [-1.38.pc].