KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Thursday witnessed a bearish trend and closed in red zone as investors opted to book profit on available margins before the announcement of federal budget Friday.
The market opened in green zone, however failed to continue this momentum due to selling pressure in various sectors.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index plunged by 456.25 points or 1.08 percent and closed below 42,000 psychological level at 41,686.46 points. During the session, the index hit 42,307.12 points intra-day high and 41,648.84 points intra-day low level.
Trading activity remained thin as total daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 203.789 million shares as compared to 332.534 million shares traded on Wednesday while total daily traded value on ready counter declined to Rs 5.848 billion against previous session’s Rs 7.148 billion.
BRIndex100 decreased by 55.48 points or 1.32 percent to close at 4,162.46 points with total daily turnover of 181.440 million shares.
BRIndex30 declined by 195.29 points or 1.34 percent to close at 14,425.46 points with total daily trading volumes of 131.990 million shares.
Foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $1.155 million. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 34 billion to Rs 6.372 trillion. Out of total 325 active scrips, 206 closed in negative and only 98 in positive while the value of 21 stocks remained unchanged.
Unity Foods was the volume leader with 28.723 million shares and gained Rs 0.66 to close at Rs 15.16 followed by WorldCall Telecom that inched down by Rs 0.04 to close at Rs 1.18 with 17.617 million shares. TPL Properties closed at Rs 12.83, down Rs 0.14 with 15.788 million shares.
Rafhan Maize and Unilever Foods were the top gainers increasing by Rs 218.00 and Rs 199.00 respectively to close at Rs 8550.00 and Rs 23199.00 while Allawasaya Textile and Pak Services were the top losers declining by Rs 241.81 and Rs 50.00 respectively to close at Rs 2988.00 and Rs 850.00.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that profit selling was witnessed at the PSX. The benchmark KSE-100 Index opened in the green but soon the jobbers took over as profit selling kept the market choppy, as investors opted to book profits after three consecutive positive sessions closing the bourse in the red. Investor participation remained healthy throughout the day as the 3rd tier stocks led the volume board.
Sectors contributing to the performance include Commercial Banks (down 131.9 points), Technology & Communication (down 89.5 points), E&P (down 81.5 points), Cement (down 49.4 points) and OMCs (down 34.2 points). BR Automobile Assembler Index lost 24.26 points or 0.33 percent to close at 7,437.79 points with total turnover of 2.183 million shares.
BR Cement Index decreased by 59.65 points or 1.29 percent to close at 4,565.09 points with 13.242 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index declined by 132.83 points or 1.55 percent to close at 8,412.19 points with 9.706 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index inched down by 22.44 points or 0.3 percent to close at 7,372.63 points with 4.290 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index fell by 65.93 points or 1.67 percent to close at 3,875.45 points with 23.663 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index plunged by 96.99 points or 2.55 percent to close at 3,707.87 points with 34.056 million shares.
Mubashir Anis Naviwala at JS Global Capital said that the bourse remained under pressure throughout the day as investors preferred to book profits. Traded volume stood at 204 million shares with UNITY (up 4.6 percent), WTL (down 3.3 percent) and TPLP (down 1.1 percent) being the highest contributors.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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