The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Index closed marginally lower by 43 points, as investors chose to capitalise on gains during trading on Thursday.

Despite a positive start, the KSE-100 soon witnessed strong selling pressure that led to an intra-day low of 69,783.32.

However, some late-session buying helped the index regain the 70,000 level.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 70,290.12, down by 43.20 points or 0.06%.

On Wednesday, the KSE-100 had closed lower by 150.34 points as investors resorted to booking profits.

In a key development, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said he does not see a need for a significant devaluation of the Pakistani rupee as part of the negotiation for a new multi-billion-dollar programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The finance minister is currently in Washington attending the World Bank-IMF Spring meetings being held from April 15 to 20.

He also had a meeting with US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu alongside other US officials.

“The emphasis during the meeting was on upgrading economic partnerships, with special emphasis on alternate energy, agriculture, climate resilience, and tech industry,” read a statement released by the Ministry of Finance.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee remained largely stable, depreciating 0.01% against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Thursday. At close, the local unit settled at 278.44, a loss of Re0.04 against the greenback, as per the State Bank of Pakistan.

Volume on the all-share index slightly decreased to 440.31 million from 442.1 million a session ago.

However, the value of shares increased to Rs24.36 billion from Rs16.03 billion in the previous session.

Cnergyico PK was the volume leader with 32.24 million shares, followed by K-Electric Ltd with 29.88 million shares, and Pak Refinery with 28.45 million shares.

Shares of 359 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 166 registered an increase, 174 recorded a fall, while 19 remained unchanged.