Pakistan stocks came under pressure on Thursday as the benchmark KSE-100 Index closed in the red, losing 0.72% to end near the 45,000-point level.

Profit-taking was witnessed throughout the day, mainly in the tech and cement sectors.

At close on Thursday, the index finished with a drop of 325.59 points or 0.72% to end at 45,082.30.

“The market remained under pressure due to the higher trade deficit number and rising number of Covid-19’s Omicron variant cases in Pakistan,” said Arif Habib Limited in its post-market comment.

Adding to investors' concerns, the number of coronavirus cases in the country surged to 1,085, the highest since October last year, while the positivity ratio increased to 2.32%.

On the economic front, trade deficit widened by 106.4% during the first half (July-December) of the current fiscal year 2021-22 and reached $25.478 billion compared to $12.344 billion during the same period of 2020-21, revealed the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

Range-bound session witnessed, KSE-100 ends flat

Sectors dragging the benchmark index lower included technology and communication (113.63 points), cement (85.15 points) and oil and gas marketing (26.03 points).

Volume decreased, clocking in at 345.3 million on the all-share index, down from 432.06 million on Wednesday. However, the value of shares traded increased to Rs13.24 billion, up from Rs10.29 billion.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 65.11 million shares, followed by TRG Pakistan Limited with 54.82 million shares, and Unity Foods Limited (R3) with 30.2 million shares.

Shares of 360 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 87 registered an increase, 258 recorded a fall, and 15 remained unchanged.