KARACHI: A bearish trend continued on Pakistan Stock Exchange on Thursday due to selling pressure on investor concerns on rumors that the government may raise taxes on dividends, capital gains, and interest income in the upcoming budget.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index declined by 356.51 points or 0.48 percent and closed below 74,000 level at 73,862.93 points. During the session, the index hit 74,593.33 points intra-day high and 73,768.40 points intra-day low level.
Total daily trading volumes on ready counter increased to 352.738 million shares as compared to 348.549 million shares traded on Wednesday while total daily traded value on the ready counter declined to Rs 12.312 billion against previous session’s Rs 16.389 billion.
BRIndex100 decreased by 55.59 points or 0.72 percent to close at 7,717.56 points with total daily turnover of 278.638 million shares.
BRIndex30 fell by 185.68 points or 0.74 percent to close at 24,777.70 points with total daily trading volumes of 166.112 million shares.
Foreign investors also remained net sellers of shares worth $696,876. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 60 billion to Rs 9.946 trillion. Out of total 450 active scrips, 249 closed in negative and 134 in positive while the value of 67 stocks remained unchanged.
WorldCall Telecom was the top volume leader with 17.606 million shares and closed at Rs 1.31, down Rs 0.01 followed by Kohinoor Spining that gained Rs 0.18 to close at Rs 4.43 with 14.855 million shares. Dewan Motors declined by Rs 2.94 to close at Rs 39.44 with 13.692 million shares.
Hallmark Company and Sapphire Textile Mills were the top gainers increasing by Rs 14.98 and Rs 13.26 respectively to close at Rs 435.12 and Rs 1,292.72 while Sazgar Engineering Works and Service Industries were the top losers declining by Rs 52.72 and Rs 45.50 respectively to close at Rs 787.49 and Rs 929.74.
An analyst at Topline Securities said that Pakistan equities started the day on a positive note, with the KSE-100 index reaching an intraday high of 74,593 points (up 373 points or 0.50 percent) in the morning. However, the index couldn’t sustain the 74,000 level due to a selling spree at the day’s peak.
The selling pressure observed can be attributed to concerns that the government may raise taxes on dividends, capital gains, and interest income in the upcoming budget.
Key contributors to the decline included FFC, OGDC, MARI, MCB, and PSO, which collectively subtracted 136 points from the index. On the other hand, BAFL, SYS, LUCK, ENGRO, and MTL together added 65 points to the index.
BR Automobile Assembler Index plunged by 244.61 points or 1.43 percent to close at 16,850.39 points with total turnover of 17.494 million shares.
BR Cement Index inched down by 6.57 points or 0.09 percent to close at 7,523.80 points with 33.440 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index declined by 93.01 points or 0.47 percent to close at 19,821.67 points with 21.179 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index lost 37.78 points or 0.21 percent to close at 17,664.79 points with 16.038 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index decreased by 44.28 points or 0.69 percent to close at 6,398.01 points with 19.215 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index fell by 31.13 points or 0.78 percent to close at 3,980.95 points with 50.213 million shares.
Mubashir Anis Naviwala at JS Global Capital said that the bourse remained under pressure throughout the day due to a lack of positive triggers and uncertainty over the upcoming monetary policy and federal budget measures.
Investor participation remained notably low, with a traded volume of 353 million shares. Volume leaders were WTL (down 0.8 percent), KOSM (up 4.2 percent), DFML (down 6.9 percent), FCCL (down 1.5 percent) and GGL (up 3.2 percent).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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