Thursday marked the fifth consecutive trading session where the KSE-100 index finished in the red at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). The benchmark KSE-100 index traded in the range of 856 points, with intraday gains of 342 points, and intraday losses of 514 points. A minor recovery took place nearing the end of the trading session, with the index dropping the loss from 500 points to 300 points, bringing the day’s trading session to a close at the level of 45,296.88. In total, shares of 377 companies were traded on Thursday, with 245 firms experiencing a decline in their share prices, 112 companies seeing an increase in their share prices, and 20 companies remaining unchanged at the KSE-100 index. World Call Telecom retained its position as the market leader today, despite suffering a 38 paise loss and a 3 paise gain. On Thursday, HUM Networks traded at a loss of 29 paise, followed by a loss of 25 paise. It traded 23.4 million shares, a reduction of 34 paise from the previous day’s transaction. Trade Corporation traded 18.7 million shares today, resulting in a fall of 3.37 paise in value. Analysing sector-to-sector performance, we can see that the contribution of many sectors was negative today, but that the contribution of the positive sectors was bigger today than it had been yesterday. Among the sectors that made good contributions, the pharmaceutical sector ranked first with 38 points, followed by the paper and board industry with seven points, the chemical sector with six points, and the food and personal care products sector with two points.