KARACHI - Bear-run continued at Pakistan Stock Exchange on Thursday, with the benchmark 100-share index losing another 554.81 points and closing at 50,956.60 points.

Market opened on a positive note where the index made an intra-day high of 59 points. This positivity was short lived as heavy selling was witnessed across the board. The index made an intraday low of -636, while it closed at around 50,956 level (down 555 points), brokers said. The shares index lost 1432 points in three consecutive sessions. 

Major laggards of index were UBL (down 3.10%), HUBC (3.73%), MCB (2.21%), ENGRO (2.07%) and PPL (2.50%) as they cumulatively eroded 281 points from the index. Banking sector led the decline in the market as index heavy-weights MCB, UBL and HBL (down 1.01%) cumulatively contributed 159 points to the index decline. E&P sector closed (1.34%) down from its previous day close as oil prices edged lower on the back of market weighing rising US shale production against ongoing efforts by major producers to cut output to reduce a global glut. OGDC (down 0.84%), POL (1.69%) and PPL were the major laggards of the aforementioned sector. Profit taking to some extent was witnessed in the cement sector as sector heavy weights MLCF (down 2.39%), LUCK (1.56%) and DGKC (1.02%), all closed in the red zone, stated analyst Arhum Ghous.

WTL was volume leader for the second consecutive day as almost 32m shares of the company exchanged hands. Overall volume declined to 302mnshares as compared to 372m shares of the previous day. Traded value also decreased to Rs12b/$115m.

Scrips of total 410 companied were traded in the session of which 182 closed in positive, 210 in negative while 18 remained unchanged.