The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday closed flat, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining only 15.36 points — up 0.04 per cent — to close at 35,974.8.

The market opened on a positive note to hit a day's high at 36,536.8 during the first hour of the session. The benchmark index hit a day's low at 35,655 near the end of the session before landing in the green.

As many as 176.4 million shares of benchmark companies changed hands during the session. The market value clocked in at Rs8.5 billion.

The Bank of Punjab (BoP), Maple Leaf Cement (MLCF) and Unity Foods Limited (UNITY) remained the top three active scrips on the bourse with 25.4 million shares, 14.2m shares and 12.7m shares, respectively.

Mohammad Faizan Munshey, an analyst associated with the Next Capital Limited, said that the benchmark index was higher at the open and continued to rally in the morning before index plunged as investors started to book profits ahead of the holiday season.

"The sell-off was brutal. For a little more than two hours, stocks moved straight down. However, in the last half an hour of the trading session, news reports started surfacing regarding the Economic Coordination Committee’s approval for the Government Guaranteed Market Support Fund. A rally into the close helped the index finish the day with a win."

He said that market participation for the benchmark index increased to 176m from 151m in the previous session — up 16pc on a day-on-day basis.

"Major contribution to total market volume came from the BOP, MLCF, and UNITY churning 52m shares out of the total market all share volume of 199m shares."

"Daily traded value for the 100 Index increased to $57m from $48m in the previous session," he added.

An advisory from the JS Global Capital Limited warned that the market would remain volatile in days ahead due to Eid holidays and budget announcement.