KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Thursday witnessed a bearish trend and closed in deep red due to selling pressure as the investors opted to book profit on available margins.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index plunged by 927.68 points or 1.17 percent to close at 78,469.33 points. The index hit 79,776.96 points intraday high and 78,330.59 points intraday low.
Trading activity remained low as daily volumes on ready counter declined to 327.279 million shares as compared to 386.980 million shares traded on Wednesday. The daily traded value on the ready counter increased to Rs 15.283 billion against previous session’s Rs 14.899 billion.
BRIndex100 decreased by 111.54 points or 1.33 percent to close at 8,294.67 points with total daily turnover of 243.843 million shares.
BRIndex30 declined by 351.9 points or 1.33 percent to close at 26,101.53 points with total daily trading volumes of 150.575 million shares.
Foreign investors also remained net sellers of shares worth $59,609. The market capitalization declined by Rs 90 billion to Rs 10.457 trillion. Out of total 445 active scrips, 263 closed in negative and 135 in positive while the value of 47 stocks remained unchanged.
Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim was the volume leader with 28.451 million shares and gained Rs 0.44 to close at Rs 42.71 followed by Hascol Petroleum that lost Rs 0.24 to close at Rs 6.45 with 17.867 million shares. Dewan Motors inched up by Rs 0.27 to close at Rs 44.57 with 16.451 million shares.
PIA Holding Company LimitedB and Rafhan Maize Products Company were the top gainers increasing by Rs 81.21 and Rs 69.76 respectively to close at Rs 898.00 and Rs 7,576.42 while Unilever Pakistan Foods and Nestle Pakistan were the top losers declining by Rs 69.50 and Rs 63.04, respectively to close at Rs 18,175.00 and Rs 6,956.96.
An analyst at Topline Securities said continuing its Wednesday’s trend, Pakistan equities recommenced the day on a positive note. Initially, the KSE-100 Index witnessed a bullish momentum and made an intraday high at 79,777 levels, an increment of 380 points (up 0.48 percent).
However, last hour’s out of the blue selling spree dropped a bombshell on the aforesaid bullish momentum. Resultantly, the benchmark index could not withstand negative headwinds and went into negative territory by losing all gains made in the earlier trading hours to call the day at 78,469 levels, down 928 points or down 1.17 percent.
During the day, blue-chip stocks like BAHL, HUBC, SYS, MCB and MEBL contributed negatively by losing 396 points, cumulatively. On the other side, PSO, POL and APL saw some buying interest as they added 40 points.
BR Automobile Assembler Index decreased by 150.85 points or 0.82 percent to close at 18,198.53 points with total turnover of 24.492 million shares.
BR Cement Index lost 43.88 points or 0.56 percent to close at 7,743.54 points with 17.464 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index declined by 403.89 points or 1.77 percent to close at 22,410.58 points with 33.670 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index plunged by 396.83 points or 2.15 percent to close at 18,046.38 points with 10.545 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index inched down by 14.72 points or 0.22 percent to close at 6,696.38 points with 33.284 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index eroded 112.73 points or 2.7 percent to close at 4,058.18 points with 31.337 million shares.
Mubashir Anis Naviwala at JS Global Capital said trading activities began on a positive note but couldn’t sustain for long as investors preferred to book profits at higher levels, selling pressure intensified as the day progressed which led the index to touch an intra-day low of 78,330 points towards the end of the session.
Major selling was witnessed in the Banking Sector where BAHL, MCB, MEBL, UBL, and HBL contributed negative 305 points in total decline.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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