LAHORE - Bearish trend continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday as the 100-share index shed another 312 points and closed at 44,067 points.

Heavyweight stocks that dragged the KSE 100-index down were MCB (-2.26 percent), FFC (-2.19 percent), SSGC (-5 percent), HBL (-0.84 percent) and ENGRO (-0.96 percent). Volumes remained lackluster as 154 million shares in the stock market changed hands. BOP (-1.59 percent) from the banking sector led the market volumes with 11 million shares. On the economic front, the federal government announced to issue floating rate Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) to improve the debt profile and meet the rising financial needs. SNGPL (-3.55 percent), from the gas utilities, closed lower than previous day’s close on the back of the news that KP government rejected the proposal of SNGPL to increase gas prices for financial year 2018-19 by 87 percent.

Selling pressure was witnessed in the cement sector where DGKC (-2.70 percent), MLCF (-1.40 percent), CHCC (-1.58 percent) and FCCL (-1.03 percent) lost value to close in the red zone. E&P sector closed negative as crude oil prices edged lower retreating from three-and-a-half-year high, where OGDC (-0.47 percent) and PPL (-0.26 percent) were the major laggards of the sector. The experts expect the stock market to exhibit volatility in the coming sessions due to overall political ambiguities and lack of positive triggers in the market.