Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) turned to profit-taking amid lack of any positive trigger, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index losing 250.10 points (-0.33 percent) to close below the 75,000 level at 74,956.67 points on Wednesday. The market opened on a positive note and remained in the green for the first half of the session. However, the profit-taking switched in soon after the index hit its day high and surpassed 75,500 points. However, the bears gained control in the final hours and pushed the index into the negative territory. The benchmark index has surged by 81.96 percent during the last one year and 15.92 during the current year. A brokerage house Capital Stake said in its post-market report, “”Unable to sustain the gains made in the previous session, the Pakistan Stock Exchange ended the day in the red. Indices traded in green for most part of the day but lost momentum sharply towards the end of the session, resulting in a negative close. On the other hand, volume swelled compared to the previous session.” Another brokerage house, Topline Securities, said the session “confounded market behavior can be ascribed to absence of any positive trigger which can assist market to keep on its off late northbound journey.” According to Topline, vibes from negotiations between the Pakistan government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and anticipation of further austerity measures in the upcoming budget kept the investors at bay as they opted to do some profit-taking above 75,000 level. Meanwhile, Chinese firms have expressed keen interest in collaborating with Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) on its refinery expansion & upgrade project. The refinery, a subsidiary of Pakistan State Oil Company Limited (PSO), shared the development in its notice to the PSX. The market’s recent bull run, which started last year with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan deal, has been further fueled amid renewed bets for interest rate cuts due to improvement in economic conditions, and official talks for a new IMF program. The benchmark index traded in a range of 678.41 points, showing an intraday high of 75,513.89 points and a low of 74,835.48 points. The total volume of the KSE-100 Index remained 183.37 million shares. Out of the KSE-100 Index companies, 34 closed up, 63 closed down, two were unchanged, while one remained untraded. The benchmark index was let down by commercial banks and cement (55 points each), oil & gas marketing companies (41 points), automobile parts & accessories (39 points), miscellaneous (28 points), refinery (23 points), and oil & gas exploration companies (22 points). On the flipside, the index was supported by power generation & distribution (75 points), technology & communication (42 points), investment banks/ investment companies/ securities companies (15 points), synthetic (5 points), and leather & tanneries and insurance (4 points each). The companies that dragged the index lower were MCB (49 points), ENGRO (41 points), THALL (39 points), BAHL (31 points), PSEL (22 points), and PPL and TRG (21 points each). On the other hand, companies that added points to the index were SYS (79 points), PKGP (27 points), FFC (26 points), UBL and MEBL (22 points each), NPL and NCPL (15 points each), HUBC (13 points) and OGDC (12 points). In the broader market, the KSE-All Share Index closed at 48,482.73 with a net loss of 278.06 points. Total market volume remained 584.48 million shares compared to 462.30 million in the previous session while traded value was recorded at Rs17.71 billion showing an increase of Rs1.82 billion. There were 247,035 trades reported in 389 companies with 131 closing up, 233 closing down and 25 remaining unchanged.