The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday witnessed bearish activity, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index plunging 416 points to close at 43,680.

The index showed some positive activity in the first few minutes of the session to touch a day's high of 44,151 points. However, the benchmark could not sustain the positive momentum and adopted a negative trend for the rest of the session. It touched a day's low of 43,630 points near the end of the session.

In all, 246 million shares worth Rs9.5 billion changed hands during the session. Of the 360 traded scrips, 118 advanced, 224 declined and 18 remained unchanged.

Overall, cement scrips dominated trading with 35.7m shares traded, while banking and food & personal care scrips followed with 24.7m and 24m shares changing hands respectively.

Volumes were led by: - B.O.Punjab: 16.6m shares traded [-4.52pc];

• Fauji Foods Ltd: 16.1m shares traded [+4.96pc];

• Unity Foods Ltd: 14.1m shares traded [+4.79pc];

• TRG Pak Ltd: 13.3m shares traded [-3.84pc];

• Azgard Nine: 13.3m shares traded [+5.18pc].