KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange continued to remain volatile on investor concerns over increasing coronavirus cases and fear of lockdown.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index hit 45,989.23 points intraday high and 45,734.30 points intraday low and closed flat at 45,763.45 points, up by 0.25 points. Trading activity remained thin as daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 239.976 million shares as compared to 327.601 million shares traded on Thursday.
BRIndex100 closed at 4,718.34 points, down 10.06 points or 0.21 percent with total daily turnover of 164.943 million shares.
BRIndex30 declined by 255.42 points or 1.31 percent to close at 19,263.69 points with total daily trading volumes of 115.623 million shares.
Foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $213,528. The market capitalization increased by Rs 14 billion to Rs 7.846 trillion. Out of total 350 active scrips, 194 closed in negative and 136 in positive while the value of 20 stocks remained unchanged.
Unity Foods (R3) was the top volume leader with 26.268 million shares however lost Rs 0.85 to close at Rs 1.12 followed by WorldCall Telecom that closed at Rs 2.47, down Rs 0.06 with 25.139 million shares.
Unilever Foods and Nestle Pakistan were the top gainers increasing by Rs 166.00 and Rs 124.25 respectively to close at Rs 20490.00 and Rs 5524.25 while Premium Textile and Siemens Pak were the top losers declining by Rs 39.98 and Rs 19.00 respectively to close at Rs 610.01 and Rs 625.00.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market continued to remain volatile as the country reported alarming rise in Covid-19 cases. The market opened on a bleak note and stayed dull throughout the day even after passing of mini-budget by NA as investors remained risk-averse due to rising Covid-19 cases. In the last trading hour, profit taking was witnessed across the board. Activity continued to remain side-ways as market witnessed hefty volumes in the 3rd tier stocks.
Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (up 43 points), E&Ps (up 28 points), Fertilizer (up 18 points), Automobile (up 10 points) and Chemicals (up 10 points).
BR Automobile Assembler Index increased by 42.0 points or 0.49 percent to close at 8,700.15 points with total turnover of 1.156 million shares.
BR Cement Index declined by 57.41 points or 0.99 percent to close at 5,732.12 points with 4.289 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index gained 34.35 points or 0.34 percent to close at 10,206.82 points with 15.593 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index decreased by 38.75 points or 0.64 percent to close at 6,011.14 points with 5.974 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index inched up by 16.81 points or 0.43 percent to close at 3,899.76 points with 14.002 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 4,130.18 points, down 26.2 points or 0.63 percent with 56.275 million shares.
An analyst at Topline Securities said that the KSE-100 Index largely remained positive during the trading session, however some pressure was observed at closing as the index declined to close on a flat note at 45,764 level.
Major contribution to the index came from HBL, PPL, DAWH, INDU and BAFL, as they cumulatively contributed 74 points to the index, on the flipside HUBC, LUCK, TRG, AVN and UNITY lost value to weigh down on the index by 66 points.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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