The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) landed in the red again on Thursday, with the benchmark KSE-100 index losing 596 points, or 1.54 per cent, to close at 38,224 points.

The index lost over 200 points within the first 15 minutes of trading and continued on a downward spiral to hit the day's low of 38,127 points before market close.

"Pakistan equities turned back south with benchmark KSE-100 Index plummeting to 38,127 level with noise on politics pretty much to blame for today's decline," a note from Elixir Securities said.

Volumes skidded further from Wednesday's 118 million shares to 93 million shares worth Rs4.1 billion. Of the total 339 scrips traded, only 59 gained in value while 261 declined and 19 remained unchanged.

The technology and communication sector dominated trading with 14m shares traded, while the power generation and cement sectors followed with 10.6m and 9.5m shares traded, respectively.

Volumes were led by:

1. TRG Pak Ltd: 10.3m shares traded [-5.00pc]

2. K-Electric Ltd: 8.3m shares traded [-4.39pc]

3. Pak Elektron: 6.4m shares traded [-4.99pc]

4. Dewan Cement: 3.7m shares traded [-6.53pc]

5. Dewan Motors: 3.6m shares traded [-3.72pc]