PSX hit by profit-taking: BRIndex100 edges down

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Friday closed lower, weighed mainly by profit-taking.

BRIndex100 lost some 27.43 points or 0.64 percent to close at 4,265.29 points compared to 4,292.72 points Thursday. It touched an intraday high of 4,318.65 points and intraday low of 4,249.11 points. Volume at BRIndex100 stood at 224.546 million shares. WorldCall emerged the most traded company with a volume of 31.828 million shares.

BRIndex30 opened at 22,455.89 points. It touched intraday high of 22,615.51 points and intraday low of 22,208.99 points to close at 22,293.32 points which was 162.57 points or 0.72 percent lower than previous close. Volume stood at 171 million shares at BRIndex30.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index moved both ways during the intraday trading and settled at 40,848 points, down 279 points. Volumes increased from 236.8 million shares to 267.6 million shares.

Out of total 348 active scrips, some 116 closed positive, 211 negative while the value of 21 stocks remained unchanged.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said the month-end closing met anticipated flows from institutions that created selling pressure on the bourse. O&GMCs, E&P, Power and Cement sectors remained under pressure, and even though MLCF managed to hit upper circuit, it couldn't hold ground for much long and dropped significantly, though remained positive.

Technology sector led the volumes with 49.2 million shares, followed by Cement 35.7 million and O&GMCs 35.5 million. Among scrips, WorldCall Telecom led the volumes with 31.8 million shares, followed by Unity Foods 22.6 million shares and Hascol Petroleum 22.4 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti of AHL said that stocks closed bearish amid uncertainty over the outcome of ongoing cross border tensions. Oil and fertilizer sector outperformed on higher global crude oil prices and surging local urea prices, he added.

He said investor concerns over political noise, weak earnings outlook, higher CPI inflation, dismal auto sales data in Nov'19, foreign outflows and renewed concerns over subdued economic growth played a catalytic role in bearish close.

BR Automobile Assembler Index closed at 6,226.25 points with a net negative change of -34.37 points or a percentage change of -0.55 and a turnover of 1,618,670.

BR Cement Index closed at 3,595.48 points with a net negative change of -34.82 points or a percentage change of -0.96 and a turnover of 35,871,800.

BR Commercial Banks Index closed at 9,584.94 points with a net negative change of -78.16 points or a percentage change of -0.81 and a turnover of 18,419,800.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index closed at 5,452.70 points with a net positive change of 62.08 points or a percentage change of 1.15 and a turnover of 18,809,500.

BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 4,781.78 points with a net negative change of -49 points or a percentage change of -1.01 and a turnover of 18,898,780.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 963.21 points with a net negative change of -3.03 points or a percentage change of -0.31 and a turnover of 49,216,500.