The stock market began trading on Wednesday with a slight advantage over Tuesday, but this advantage did not last long; after gaining 290 points intraday, it reached 44,172.74 points but then plunged 815 points owing to selling pressure, setting a new low of 43,067 points. The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed Wednesday’s trading day in the red, with the benchmark KSE-100 index down 661 points, or 1.51 percent, to 43,221.78 at the closing. Trading volume declined by 12.34 percent on Wednesday as compared to Tuesday and a total of 156,336,367 volumes were traded worth Rs9,187,358,770. Wednesday saw a total of 543 companies’ trade, up from Tuesday, with the majority of trades going to decliners, 436 firms’ shares fell, 86 climbed, and 21 were steady. The KSE-30 index finished at 16,881.07 points, down 335.93 points or 1.95 percent, on a volume of 72,211,052 shares. The KSE all-share index closed at 29,850.69 points, down 375.71 points or 1.24 percent, on 354,909,303 shares changed hands. On Wednesday, technology and communication (185.62 points), cement (106.51 points), and oil and gas exploration were among the sectors placing pressure on the benchmark KSE-100 index (66.13 points). With 36.76 million shares, Hascol Petroleum Limited led the way, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 28.87 million shares and Telecard Limited with 17.01 million shares.