Bears returned to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday, lopping off 642 points from the benchmark KSE-100 index and pulling it down to a close at 42,269.

The index started the day with modest gains in the beginning of the session, crossing the 43,000 mark and touching 43,173 points before profit-taking pulled it down the day's low of 42,136 towards the close of trading.

Nearly 185 million stocks worth Rs10.05 billion were traded on the exchange over the day. A total of 347 symbols were traded, of which 104 advanced, 257 declined and 13 remained unchanged.

"Stocks closed lower amid pressure on institutional profit taking in overbought oil, cement and fertiliser stocks," Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said in a note.

He added that investors weighed the uncertainty over the outcome of United States President Donald Trump's recent statements on Pakistan's efforts to curb militancy and terrorism, which led to higher selling.

The textile sector dominated the day's trading with 30.6m shares traded, while engineering and technology sectors followed with 21.5m and 20m shares traded respectively.

Volumes were led by:

Azgard Nine: 21m shares traded [-3.83pc]

TRG Pak Ltd: 17.1m shares [-4.98pc]

Aisha Steel Mill: 9m shares traded [-4.32pc]

Lotte Chemical: 8.9m shares traded [-9.37pc]

Dost Steels Ltd: 6.5m shares traded [-2.77pc]