The bears continued to dominate the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index losing 257 points to close at 45,461 points.

After a slight surge that saw the index touch a day's high of 45,781 points, it remained in the red for the rest of the day. "Pakistan equities continued to extend losses for the third straight session after disqualification of Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, which will be a major blow to the ruling party PML-N," Topline Market Review said.

In all, 170.3 million shares worth Rs7.15 billion were traded at the exchange. Of the 413 traded scrips, 167 advanced while 226 declined and 20 remained unchanged.

Commercial banks dominated trading with 24.5m shares traded while the chemical sector followed with 21.2m shares traded.

Volumes were led by:

1. Unity Foods Limited: 10.0m shares traded [-4.05pc];

2. Bank Of Punjab: 9.4m shares traded [+10.43pc];

3. Nimir Resins Limited: 8.1m shares traded [+2.41pc];

4. Engro Polymer and Chemicals Ltd: 6.3m shares traded [-2.75pc];

5. Pakistan Elektron Ltd: 6.2m shares traded [+1.32pc].