KSE-100 Index tumbles: BRIndex100 extends losses

Pakistan Stock Exchange Thursday closed on a negative note due to selling by local and foreign investors ahead of long Eid holidays.

BRIndex100 lost 12.97 points or 0.37 percent to close at 3,468.01 points. BRIndex100 hit intraday high of 3,491.20 and intraday low of 3,462.20 points. Volumes stood at 122.811 million shares.

BRIndex30 decreased by 109.49 points or 0.6 percent to close at 18,281.67 points with a turnover of 86.946 million shares.

The KSE-100 Index declined by 96.20 points or 0.28 percent and closed at 33,836.61 points. Trading activities remained low as daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 147.213 million shares as compared to 165.101 million shares traded Wednesday.

Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares and withdrew $1.8 million from the stock market.

The market capitalization increased by Rs 3 billion to Rs 6.471 trillion. Out of total 340 active scrips, 187 closed in negative, 135 in positive while the value of 18 stocks remained unchanged.

TRG Pak was the volume leader with 18.377 million shares however lost Re 0.06 to close at Rs 25.75 followed by Hascol Petrol that closed at Rs 14.48, down Re 0.32 with 15.262 million shares.

Unilever Foods and Nestle Pakistan were the top gainers with Rs 682.00 and Rs 80.00, respectively to close at Rs 9,782.00 and Rs 7,130.00. Sapphire Textile and Sanofi-Aventis were the top losers with Rs 61.00 and Rs 55.39, respectively to close at Rs 759.00 and Rs 912.00.

BR Automobile Assembler Index plunged by 59.37 points or 1.03 percent to close at 5,718.66 points with total turnover of 6.760 million shares.

BR Cement Index decreased by 39.69 points or 0.95 percent to close at 4,139.53 points with 18.133 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index fell by 19.24 points or 0.29 percent to close at 6,525.11 points with 6.762 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index lost 4.73 points or 0.11 percent to close at 4,473.28 points with 10.195 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 3,645.52 points, down 0.24 points or 0.01 percent with 24.208 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index gained 17.14 points or 1.5 percent to close at 1,158.53 points with 34.407 million shares.

"Last trading day before the long weekend brought nervousness among investors where at one end international crude prices were traded at high level, but the local investors were wary of the gap due to the offs for Eid holidays," an analyst at Arif Habib Limited said.

OGDC went up early on but faced selling pressure and ended up trading in a narrow range. Cement sector realized price losses due to selling pressure, which has been persistent from last couple of sessions. Banking sector also fell prey to the selling pressure, especially in the wake of recent notification by Moody's for rating downgrade.

The KSE-100 index largely traded in a narrow range between plus 116 points and minus 175 points, after opening on a positive note with 77 points and 1.4 million shares traded at the opening bell.

Technology stocks posted highest volume with 34.2 million shares, followed by O&GMCs (19.6 million shares) and Cement (18.1 million shares).

Sectors contributing to the performance include O&GMCs (down 32 points), Cement (down 31 points), Banks (down 27 points), Autos (down 13 points), Textile (down 11 points), E&P (up 32 points) and Insurance (up 11 points).

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include OGDC (up 18 points), NESTLE (up 8 points), POL (up 8 points), AICL (up 6 points) and EFUG (up 5 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include SNGP (down 15 points), LUCK (down 13 points), DGKC (down 11 points), EFERT (down 11 points) and HUBC (down 9 points).