The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) landed in the red on Thursday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index losing 326 points to close at 40,266.

The index had climbed slightly early in the session to hit a day's high of 40,713, but began shedding points to touch a low of 40,137 before close.

"Finance Minster Ishaq Dar took a medical leave of absence, while his responsibilities will be handed over to a team of economic advisers led by the incumbent prime minister," read a note explaining the index's decline from Topline Securities.

Around 102 million shares worth Rs5.4 billion changed hands during the day, and only 122 of the 336 traded scrips gained as 203 declined and 11 remained unchanged.

The power generation and distribution sector dominated trading for the second session in a row with 13.9m shares traded. K-Electric remained the most-traded company. The technology and refinery sectors followed with 12.9m and 11.9m shares traded respectively.

"TPL Trakker took off as a minister commented that motorcycles in Sindh be installed with trackers" while "K-Electric shed 21 paisas as investors looked to book gains after yesterday’s 10 per cent surge," Topline Securities added.

Mutual funds continued their selling spree and were net sellers of Rs337m in the session, joined closely by foreign corporations.

Volumes were led by:

1. K-Electric Ltd: 9.1m shares traded [-3.57pc]

2. TPL Trakker Ltd: 7.6m shares traded [+14.14pc]

3. WorldCall Telecom: 7.5m shares traded [-0.66pc]

4. Byco Petroleum: 7.2m shares traded [+3.73pc]

5. TRG Pak Ltd: 4.9m shares traded [-1.89pc]