KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday witnessed a mixed trend and after moving in both directions, closed in red zone due to selling pressure in the second half of the trading session.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index declined by 484.94 points or 0.75 percent and closed below 64,000 psychological level at 63,813.06 points. The index hit 64,534.30 points intraday high and 63,743.40 points intraday low.
Trading activity remained low as daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 412.823 million shares as compared to 460.691 million shares traded on Thursday while total daily traded value on the ready counter declined to Rs 16.185 billion against previous session’s Rs 25.248 billion.
BRIndex100 decreased by 54.71 points or 0.83 percent to close at 6,549.02 points with total daily turnover of 375.627 million shares.
BRIndex30 fell by 73.28 points or 0.32 percent to close at 23,140.51 points with total daily trading volumes of 313.453 million shares.
Foreign investors remained on the selling side and withdrew $10.059 million from the local equity market. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 36 billion to Rs 9.359 trillion. Out of total 342 active scrips, 221 closed in negative and only 99 in positive while the value of 22 stocks remained unchanged.
P.I.A.C. (A) was the volume leader with 66.176 million shares and gained Rs 1.00 to close at Rs 10.34 followed by K-Electric that lost Rs 0.11 to close at Rs 5.15 with 47.105 million shares. OGDC increased by Rs 6.06 to close at Rs 141.37 with 31.070 million shares.
Atlas Honda Limited and Indus Motor Company were the top gainers increasing by Rs 28.52 and Rs 25.42 respectively to close at Rs 408.77 and Rs 1,445.77 while Unilever Pakistan Foods and Mari Petroleum Company were the top losers declining by Rs 400.00 and Rs 82.29 respectively to close at Rs 21,500.00 and Rs 2,452.37.
An analyst at Topline Securities said the KSE-100 Index opened on a positive note and gained to make an intraday high of 236 points, however pressure was observed in the second half of trading session on account of profit-taking by investors in banks ahead of monetary policy committee meeting on Monday as index close at 63,813 level, down by 0.75 percent.
FFC in fertilizer sector declared its 4th quarter 2023 result in which it posted EPS of Rs 5.86 along with a dividend per share of Rs 4.1; investors reacted negatively to the result announcement (FFC closed down 2.5 percent lower than its Thursday`s closing) as the payout was lower than the industry estimate.
Major positive contribution to the index came from OGDC, HMB, INDU, ABL and LCI as they cumulatively contributed plus 154 points to the index. On the flip side MARI, FFC, MEBL, HBL and BAHL lost value to weigh down on the index by minus 226 points.
BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 35.77 points or 0.26 percent to close at 13,894.80 points with total turnover of 3.490 million shares.
BR Cement Index plunged by 64.89 points or 0.98 percent to close at 6,567.18 points with 10.590 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index decreased by 138.97 points or 0.88 percent to close at 15,657.04 points with 19.990 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index declined by 113.41 points or 0.8 percent to close at 14,031.25 points with 53.801 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 6,383.83 points, down 0.19 points with 76.892 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index fell by 67.78 points or 1.8 percent to close at 3,701.05 points with 53.443 million shares.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks fell sharply lower on pre-poll uncertainty and investor concerns for unresolved power sector circular debt rose by Rs 2.55 trillion for July-December 2023.
He said uncertainty over IMF approval on SIFC directive for Rs 1.27 trillion circular debt settlement plan and weak industrial earnings outlook amid surging gas tariff played a catalyst role in bearish close.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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