Karachi: Bearish sentiment prevailed at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as benchmark KSE-100 index fell below 75,000 during trading. KSE-100 started session positive but soon bears took control of market and kept index largely into negative territory.

At close, benchmark index settled at 74,836.30, down by 681.19 points or 0.90 percent. Across-the-board selling pressure was witnessed among key sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, chemical, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, and refinery. Index-heavy stocks including OGDC, PPL, SNGPL, HBL and NBP were in red. Volume on all-share index decreased to 408.07 million from 446.07 million session ago. Value of shares rose to Rs 16.5 billion from Rs 16.4 billion in previous session. K-Electric Ltd was volume leader with 38.65 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 22.38 million shares and Dewan Motors with 19.35 million shares. Shares of 405 companies were traded, of which 85 registered an increase, 277 recorded fall while 43 remained unchanged.

Globally, China stocks edged up on Wednesday as International Monetary Fund upgraded its economic growth forecasts for Asian giant. China's economy is set to grow 5 percent this year, after "Strong" first quarter, IMF said, raising its earlier forecast of 4.6 percent expansion. Around region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 1.20 percent while Japan's Nikkei index was down 0.43 percent.