KARACHI: Selling pressure continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Wednesday, with the KSE-100 Index closing 543 points lower at 111,487.36, a decline of 0.48%.

The session began positively, reaching an intra-day high of 112,569.90, but market sentiment weakened towards the end, pushing the index to an intra-day low of 111,157.19. Topline Securities attributed the market pressure to a lack of positive triggers, institutional selling, and the ongoing futures rollover week. Major contributors to the decline were FFC, EFERT, PSO, MCB, HUBC, and BAFL, which collectively caused a 508-point drop. Intermarket Securities noted that the absence of fresh liquidity, coupled with slower mutual fund conversions, further exacerbated the negative trend. On Tuesday, the market also experienced significant selling, with the KSE-100 losing nearly 1,500 points. Meanwhile, international markets showed mixed trends, with technology stocks in Asia-Pacific markets seeing gains, while US futures dipped slightly.

The Pakistani rupee appreciated marginally against the US dollar, gaining 0.02% to settle at 278.87 in the inter-bank market. Trading volume on the all-share index decreased to 449.24 million from 517.80 million on Tuesday, while the value of shares dropped to Rs28.19 billion.  Cnergyico PK led the volume chart with 31.20 million shares, followed by K-Electric Ltd and Citi Pharma Ltd.