Stock market plummets

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Tuesday witnessed a mixed trend and after moving both ways, closed on a negative note with low trading activity.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index declined by 215.94 points or 0.47 percent and closed at 45,491.49 points. The index hit 45,950.68 points intraday high and 45,417.00 points intraday low.

Trading activity remained low as daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 123.239 million shares as compared to 139.251 million shares traded on Monday. The daily traded value on ready counter declined to Rs 3.688 billion against previous session’s Rs 4.476 billion.

BRIndex100 lost 22.75 points or 0.5 percent to close at 4,551.04 points with total daily turnover of 104.694 million shares.

BRIndex30 decreased by 40.18 points or 0.25 percent to close at 15,976.34 points with total daily trading volumes of 73.718 million shares.

Foreign investors also remained net sellers of shares worth $372,986. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 38 billion to Rs 6.767 trillion. Out of total 297 active scrips, 164 closed in negative and 104 in positive while the value of 29 stocks remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 21.839 million shares however closed at the previous session’s closing level of Rs 1.17 without any change followed by Maple Leaf Cement that gained Rs 0.74 to close at Rs 28.36 with 8.453 million shares. Pak Refinery lost Rs 0.14 to close at Rs 14.31 with 4.725 million shares.

Bata Pak and Gadoon Textile were the top gainers increasing by Rs 19.02 and Rs 13.63 respectively to close at Rs 1719.00 and Rs 202.14 while Mehmood Textile and JS Global Cap were the top losers declining by Rs 43.98 and Rs 11.01 respectively to close at Rs 542.47 and Rs 150.00.

Mubashir Anis Naviwala at JS Global Capital said that the bourse witnessed rangebound activity, with very dull participation from investors. The KSE-100 Index moved between 45,417 and 45,951 points and closed at 45,491, down 216 points. Traded volume stood at 123 million shares with WTL (zero percent), MLCF (up 2.7 percent), PRL (down 1.0 percent), SYM (up 2.4 percent) and SEARLR2 (down 16.4 percent) among the top volume leaders.

BR Automobile Assembler Index lost 13.05 points or 0.15 percent to close at 8,909.17 points with total turnover of 3.044 million shares.

BR Cement Index gained 6.82 points or 0.15 percent to close at 4,601.48 points with 14.695 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index decreased by 57.37 points or 0.53 percent to close at 10,766.94 points with 9.450 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index declined by 86.29 points or 1.0 percent to close at 8,555.04 points with 8.868 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index fell by 47.65 points or 1.12 percent to close at 4,207.51 points with 11.327 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 3,720.06 points, down 5.56 points or 0.15 percent with 30.059 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed sharply lower on concerns for economic uncertainty after IMF turns down power relief proposals and expectations for further rise in industrial power tariff.

He said political noise, Gallup survey expecting potential default and concerns for unresolved circular debt crises in the power sector played a catalyst role in bearish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023