Karachi: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed negative session as its benchmark KSE-100 Index failed to sustain bullish beginning and closed lower by over 300 points. KSE-100 started session positive, hitting an intra-day high of 76,209.97.

However, profit-taking kicked in in latter hours and pushed index into negative territory. At close, benchmark index settled at 75,575.26, down by 303.22 points or 0.40 percent. Negative trend was influenced by IT, banking and fertiliser sectors, with companies such as SYS, FFC, EFERT, MEBL, and ENGRO collectively shedding 219 points, brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report. Volume on all-share index decreased to 441.26 million from 523.3 million session ago. Value of shares declined to Rs 18.63 billion from Rs 20.57 billion in previous session. Fauji Cement was volume leader with 32.83 million shares, followed by K-Electric Ltd with 31.65 million shares, PIA Holding Company with 25.57 million shares. Shares of 427 companies were traded on Monday, of which 200 registered an increase, 178 recorded fall while 49 remained unchanged. Oil and Gas Development Company Limited-country’s largest hydrocarbon exploration firm, said it had achieved significant enhancement in oil and gas production from its wells located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh.