The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) endured a roller-coaster trading session on Wednesday as the KSE-100 Index fell 0.22% after inching close to the 41,000-point mark.
Economic uncertainty played on investors’ mind and they resorted to offload their holdings.
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At close on Wednesday, the KSE-100 Index finished with a decrease of 91.34 points or 0.22% to finish at 40,539.3.
The index climbed in early hours and hit an intra-day high before receding and entering the red zone. Selling pressure accelerated in the final hours and added to the losses.
Index-heavy automobile, cement, chemical, banking and oil and gas sectors closed in the red.
A report from Arif Habib Limited stated that another mixed session was witnessed at the PSX.
“The market started in the red but quickly turned green and traded in a constrained range the whole trading day as a result of uncertain economic conditions,” it said. “Comparatively, mainboard volumes dropped while third-tier companies continued to dominate the volume board.”
A report from Capital Stake added that the downward trend continued at the PSX. Indices swayed in both zones, while volumes depreciated from last close, it said.
On the economic front, Pakistan’s trade deficit shrank by 32.65% to $17.133 billion during the first half (July-December) of the current fiscal year as compared to $25.438 billion during the same period of last year, said the latest data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
Moreover, rupee registered a marginal loss against the US dollar on Wednesday and closed weaker for the 11th successive session. As per the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the rupee was down Re0.01 to close at 226.95.
Sectors driving the benchmark KSE-100 index lower included oil and gas exploration companies (49.36 points), banking (36.52 points) and power generation and distribution (17.66 points)
Volume on the all-share index plunged to 142.9 million from 201.1 million on Tuesday. The value of shares traded declined to Rs4.33 billion from Rs5 billion recorded in the previous session.
Dewan Motors was the volume leader with 10.85 million shares, followed by Sui Southern Gas Company with 10.7 million shares, and Al-Shaheer (R) with 9.35 million shares.
Shares of 325 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 128 registered an increase, 173 recorded a fall, and 24 remained unchanged.
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