The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) concluded the week on a negative note on Friday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index plunging 391 points, or 0.97 per cent, to close at 39,847 points.

The capital market had witnessed bear-dominated trading throughout the week.

The index nosedived soon after the commencement of the Friday session, with the market's opening at 40,237 points remaining the day's high. The index touched a bottom of 39,478 points during intra-day trading.

Overall volumes edged up, with 154 million shares worth Rs7 billion traded in the session. Of the 357 symbols traded, 90 advanced, 255 declined while 12 remained unchanged.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said that panic-selling witnessed early in the session was triggered by political uncertainty and concerns over the dismal economic outlook.

"Late session support in oil and banking stocks amid foreign inflows and recovery in global crude prices supported the index to close above session lows," he said, adding that the surging trade deficit in Jul-Sep '17 and the IMF's dim outlook on rising government debt played a catalyst role in the bearish close.

The power generation and distribution sector led the market with 28mn shares, followed by the cement and the communication sector with 24mn and 14mn shares.

Volumes were led by:

K-Electric Ltd: 13.5m shares traded [+0.32pc];

Maple Leaf: 7.3m shares traded [-3.23pc];

TRG Pak Ltd: 8.2m shares traded [-2.77pc];

B.O.Punjab: 7.1m shares traded [-6.79pc];

Fauji Cement: 4.3m shares traded [-3.32pc].