Karachi: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended on flat note with both volume and value of shares traded declining on day-to-day basis.

Benchmark KSE-100 index had stayed in positive territory for most part of trading session. It hit an intra-day high of 80,888.86, an increase of 655 points. However, market was unable to maintain bullish trend in second half and at close, index settled at 80,282.80, an increase of just 49.13 points or 0.06 percent. Some buying was witnessed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, commercial banks, OMCs and refinery. Index-heavy stocks including HCAR, INDU, HBL, MEBL, PSO and SNGP closed in green. Volume on all-share index decreased to 496.78 million from 536.58 million in previous session. Value of shares declined to Rs 19.3 billion from Rs 22.7 billion in last session. B.O.Punjab was volume leader with 29.3 million shares, followed by PIA Holding Company with 26.7 million shares and Pak Elektron with 26.5 million shares.

Shares of 446 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 188 registered an increase, 199 recorded fall, while 64 remained unchanged. Globally, Japan’s Topix hit a record high on Thursday, led by gains in automakers and banks, as market expects robust corporate outlook in latter half of year. Broader Topix index rose to as high as 2,890.52 earlier in session, exceeding record intraday high of 2,885.50 marked in December 1989.