Profit-taking pulls down KSE-100 Index: BRIndex100 snaps winning streak

Investors opted to book profit Tuesday that forced the Pakistan Stock Exchange to close on a negative note.

BRIndex100 lost 38.5 points or 0.91 percent to close at 4,178.10 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,258.03 and intraday low of 4,171.86 points. Volumes stood at 397.354 million shares.

BRIndex30 decreased by 193.88 points or 0.9 percent to close at 21,408.81 points with a turnover of 251.545 million shares.

The KSE-100 Index declined by 335.49 points or 0.84 percent to close below 40,000 level at 39,788.73 points. Trading activity also remained low as daily volumes on the ready counter decreased to 448.876 million shares as compared to 557.394 million shares traded Monday.

The market capitalization declined by Rs 46 billion to Rs 7.582 trillion. Out of total 392 active scrips, 229 closed in negative, 154 in positive while the value of 09 stocks remained unchanged.

K-Electric was the volume leader with 42.806 million shares. It gained Re 0.10 to close at Rs 4.69 followed by TRG Pak that inched up by Re 0.28 to close at Rs 24.58 with 25.292 million shares.

Nestle Pakistan and Bata Pak were the top gainers with Rs 324.50 and Rs 97.46, respectively to close at Rs 6,814.50 and Rs 2,048.47. Rafhan Maize and Colgate Palmolive were the top losers with Rs 100.00 and Rs 90.00, respectively to close at Rs 6,900.00 and Rs 1,890.00.

BR Automobile Assembler Index plunged by 102.29 points or 1.57 percent to close at 6,419.68 points with total turnover of 5.420 million shares.

BR Cement Index declined by 111.34 points or 3.01 percent to close at 3,590.82 points with 51.850 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index fell by 79.91 points or 0.84 percent to close at 9,441.09 points with 44.487 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index lost 17.98 points or 0.32 percent to close at 5,558.03 points with 50.145 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 4,347.75 points, down 13.21 points or 0.3 percent with 28.484 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index decreased by 8.41 points or 0.86 percent to close at 971.02 points with 51.280 million shares.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market finally took some correction when the index slid by 400 points and closed the session at minus 389 points.

Selling pressure was mainly observed in banks, but was otherwise felt in Autos, E&P, Steel and Cement sector as well. Refinery sector performed well with ATRL and NRL hitting upper circuits.

The main idea behind selling appeared profit booking, where the index crossed psychological barrier of 40,000. Cement sector led the trading volumes with 62 million shares, followed by Technology (51.2 million shares) and Power (50.1 million shares).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (down 116 points), Cement (down 80 points), Fertilizer (down 67 points), O&GMCs (down 21 points) and Chemical (down 21 points).

Stocks that contributed positively include MCB (up 27 points), NESTLE (up 16 points), SEARL (up 15 points), PKGS (up 9 points) and EFERT (up 9 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include ENGRO (down 59 points), UBL (down 40 points), LUCK (down 37 points), BAHL (down 28 points) and SNGP (down 21 points).