Stock market recoils

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Wednesday witnessed a bearish trend as investors remained cautious and opted to book profit on available margins.

The KSE-100 Index declined by 348.49 points or 0.75 percent to close at 46,194.42 points. Trading activity also remained low as daily volumes on the ready counter decreased to 238.493 million shares as compared to 243.193 million shares traded Tuesday.

BRIndex100 lost 64.19 points or 1.33 percent to close at 4,774.61 points with total daily trading volumes of 171.718 million shares.

BRIndex30 plunged by 659.72 points or 3.11 percent to close at 20,530.86 points with total daily turnover of 106.366 million shares.

Foreign investors also remained net sellers of equities worth $5.517 million. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 51 billion to Rs 7.873 trillion. Out of total 343 active scrips, 241 closed in negative and only 83 in positive while the value of 19 stocks remained unchanged.

Service Fabrics was volume leader with 18.935 million shares however lost Rs 0.12 to close at Rs 11.94 followed by TRG Pak that declined by Rs 9.78 to close at Rs 120.67 with 15.965 million shares. Sapphire Fiber and Systems Limited were the top gainers increasing by Rs 44.50 and Rs 20.71 respectively to close at Rs 840.00 and Rs 818.09 while Gatron Industries and Murree Brewery were the top losers declining by Rs 39.73 and Rs 35.40 respectively to close at Rs 490.07 and Rs 464.60.

Mohammad Waqar Iqbal at JS Global Capital said that the market negatively reacted in the opening of the session on SBP’s MPS announcement. Expectation of hike in interest rate sent cyclical stocks in a negative direction but it is positive for the banking sector. Index failed to sustain throughout the whole session and KSE-100 Index closed down by 348 points at 46,194.

Investors have a wait and watch stance on the outcome of the upcoming MPS announcement and the coming week will be the roll-over week; hence, a cautious approach is advised.

BR Automobile Assembler Index decreased by 97.4 points or 1.11 percent to close at 8,667.71 points with total turnover of 1.899 million shares.

BR Cement Index plunged by 193.84 points or 3.07 percent to close at 6,120.64 points with 11.480 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index lost 98.22 points or 0.98 percent to close at 10,111.54 points with 30.055 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index closed at 5,529.31 points, down 3.34 points or 0.06 percent with 7.193 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index fell by 41.79 points of 1.08 percent to close at 3,815.74 points with 8.101 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index declined by 112.62 points or 2.49 percent to close at 4,407.67 points with 47.760 million shares.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021