Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) once again remained under selling pressure due to terrorist attacks in different parts of the country. Although the market opened on positive note and the index hit 49,894.35 points intra-day high level, however could not sustain this level as the investors opted to offload their holdings due to security concerns.
At the end of the session, the benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 212.59 points and closed at 49,375.71 points on Friday. Selling was seen from both local and foreign fronts. The foreign investors sold out shares worth $3.5 million. Due to selling pressure, trading activities improved as the trading volumes on ready counter increased to 373.303 million shares as compared to 263.260 million shares traded on Thursday. Total market capitalisation decreased by Rs 18 billion to stand at Rs 9.798 trillion. Out of total 416 active scrips, 225 closed in positive and 178 in negative while the value of 13 stocks remained unchanged.
K-Electric was the volume leader with 28.402 million shares and gained Rs 0.09 to close at Rs 9.99 followed by Power Cement that increased by Rs 1.08 to close at Rs 22.83 with 25.001 million shares. Dost Steels closed at Rs 16.06, up Rs 0.12 with 24.274 million shares.
Rafhan Maize and Millat Tractors were the top gainers increasing by Rs 379.00 and Rs 52.63 respectively to close at Rs 7959.00 and Rs 1105.41 while Wyeth Pak and Sapphire Textile were the top losers declining by Rs 204.77 and Rs 67.80 respectively to close at Rs 4221.23 and Rs 1288.27.
Ahsan Mehatni at Arif Habib Corporation said that stocks closed bearish amid concerns for security unrest in the country after suicide blast in Sehwan. Weak earning announcement by OGDC invited mid-session pressure. He said weak global stocks and crude prices, concerns for foreign outflows and dismal payouts in fertilizer and banking sector played a catalyst role in bearish close at PSX.
An analyst at Global Securities said that the market witnessed a volatile session as it closed 287 points plus during the first half and closed 192 points down by the day end as the upbeat sentiment was ruined by the financial result announcement of ENGRO(down 4.57 percent) during the break. ENGRO and DAWH cumulatively took 140 points from the KSE-100 index as ENGRO announced final cash dividend of Rs 4.00/share with the result, substantially lower than consensus market expectations. Conversely, MTL(up 5.0 percent) closed at its upper limit for the second consecutive day as euphoria of company''s intentions of setting up a green field project for assembly and sales of Hyundai Motor Company vehicles continued for the second day at the bourse.
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