Stocks close flat on profit-taking
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed almost unchanged on Thursday as late profit-taking wiped out an early rally, leaving the KSE-100 index down almost 50 points. The benchmark index surged as much as 1,279 points to the intra-day high of 178,650 amid falling oil prices and hopes of progress in US-Iran talks. Selling then set in after a batch of corporate results, dragging the index to the low of 177,196 before a modest recovery towards the close. At the end of trading, the benchmark KSE-100 index posted a modest decline of 47.93 points, or 0.03%, and settled at 177,322.78.