KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Wednesday remained under pressure throughout the day due to concerns over ‘adverse’ upcoming budget and mounting inflation.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index hit 41,620.71 points intraday high and 41,391.90 points intraday low before closing at 41,553.16 points, down 15.25 points or 0.04 percent.
Trading activity also remained low as total daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 151.126 million shares as compared to 157.436 million shares traded on Tuesday however daily traded value on the ready counter increased to Rs 4.487 billion against previous day’s Rs 4.224 billion.
BRIndex100 gained 4.48 points or 0.11 percent to close at 4,115.33 points with total daily turnover of 123.395 million shares.
BRIndex30 increased by 118.77 points or 0.81 percent to close at 14,774.97 points with total daily trading volumes of 73.268 million shares.
Foreign investors remained on the selling side with an outflow of $3.990 million. The market capitalization declined by Rs 9 billion to Rs 6.947 trillion. Out of total 321 active scrips, 158 closed in negative and 137 in positive while the value of 26 stocks remained unchanged.
Unity Foods was the volume leader with 11.825 million shares and gained Rs 0.38 to close at Rs 20.45 followed by D. G. K. Cement that lost Rs 0.53 to close at Rs 56.13 with 9.623 million shares. Oilboy Energy (R) closed at Rs 2.77, up Rs 0.67 with 8.256 million shares.
Rafhan Maize and Nestle Pakistan were the top gainers increasing by Rs 155.00 and Rs 149.98 respectively to close at Rs 9955.00 and Rs 5800.00 while Sapphire Fiber and Indus Motor Co were the top losers declining by Rs 49.00 and Rs 28.70 respectively to close at Rs 1100.00 and Rs 1198.50.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the PSX continued to remain under pressure throughout the day due to concerns regarding adverse upcoming budget and mounting inflation. The benchmark KSE-100 index witnessed a volatile session as investors opted to remain sideways as lackluster volume was witnessed in the main board stocks whereas hefty volumes were observed in 3rd-tier stocks. Banking sector stayed in the red zone due to expectation of higher super tax and increase in other taxes in the upcoming budget.
Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (down 62.9 points), Fertilizer (down 18.2 points), Textile (down 15.7 points), Automobile Assemblers (down 14.2 points) and Insurance (down 8.9 points).
BR Automobile Assembler Index decreased by 72.95 points or 0.76 percent to close at 9,571.99 points with total turnover of 515,593 shares.
BR Cement Index increased by 49.6 points or 1.23 percent to close at 4,072.57 points with 25.490 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index fell by 60.28 points or 0.66 percent to close at 9,119.32 points with 8.687 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index surged by 52.58 points or 1.02 percent to close at 5,231.10 points with 6.523 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index gained 4.34 points or 0.12 percent to close at 3,666.84 points with 11.245 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 3,241.90 points, up 18.76 points or 0.58 percent with 13.447 million shares.
An analyst at Topline Securities said that Pakistan equities closed slight unchanged where benchmark KSE-100 Index settled at 41,553 level, down 0.04 percent. Range bound activity witnessed at the bourse where market made an intraday high of 52 points to 41,620 and low of 177 points to 41,392. Investors remained confused over economic condition amid eying over upcoming budget and conclusion of IMF program.
LUCK, HUBC and POL contributed the most positive points in the trading session where on the flip side, HBL, FFC and BAFL were the major decliners.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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