The Pakistan Stock Exchange gained modestly on Wednesday, with the KSE-100 index gaining 19 points, or 0.04 per cent, to close at 45,999.

Bears dominated the session early in the day, with the index sliding to 45,591, but stocks gained ground towards the end to test 46,101.

"Pakistan equities closed Wednesday little changed after recovering from morning declines which had pulled the benchmark KSE-100 Index lower," said Elixir Securities.

"Market started on a weaker note and notable bluechips across oils, financials and cements, along with select index names, were dragged down by mid-day on selling amidst a dearth of serious buyers."

"Political noise remained a dampener as former prime minister Nawaz Sharif kicked off his defiant march," the report added.

"Although wider market activity was lower as evident from under 215m shares exchanging hands on KSE All Index, however volumes and turnover on the benchmark KSE-100 Index jumped 21pc and 77pc respectively versus yesterday as local institutions reportedly cherry-picked notable names in the second half of trading and aided in market recovery."

A total 101.5 million shares worth Rs11.15 billion were traded during the session. Shares of 368 companies were traded, with 222 of them advancing, 134 declining and 12 remaining unchanged.

The engineering sector dominated the day's trading with 29.1m shares traded, while commercial banks and power generation followed with 27.4m and 18.9m shares traded respectively.

Volumes were led by:

1. Aisha Steel Mill: 19.74m shares traded (+4.73pc)

2. K-Electric Ltd: 14.8m shares traded (+2.03pc)

3. TRG Pak Ltd: 14.9m shares traded (+4.26pc)

4. Azgard Nine: 10.0m shares traded (+6.70pc)

5. Summit Bank: 9.0m shares traded (+9.46pc)