BRIndex100 retreats

Sentiments at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained negative on the last trading day Friday. BRIndex100 declined by 31.47 points 0.67 percent to close at 4,651.75 points compared to 4,683.22 points Thursday. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,706.32 points and intraday low of 4,645.51 points. The trading volume stood at 133.960 million shares. Dewan Cement was the most traded company in BRIndex100 with a volume of 13.639 million.
BRIndex30 opened at 23,474.12 points. It touched intraday high of 23,648.81 points and intraday low of 23,320.60 points to close at 23,338.56 points which was -135.56 points or -0.58 percent lower than previous close. Total share trading volume stood at 90.025 million.
The benchmark KSE-100 lost 261 points to close at 43,595 points down from 43,856 points. Trading volume at the ready counter also declined to 164.686 million compared to 196.268 million traded Thursday. The market capitalization declined by Rs 48 billion to Rs 8.973 trillion.
Analysts said that after witnessing positive sessions, the market again went down and dented the developing positive sentiment. Banking and cement stocks started the session with positive sentiment with DGKC, MLCF and other cement stock trading in high volume however, later half reversed the gains in cement sector and dragged the market in negative zone. The market during the intraday trading went down by 300 points and finally closed at 261 points from Thursday''s closing.
Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib said that stocks closed bearish on investor concerns over dismal data of $29.8 billion on trade deficit for Jul-April of FY18 and fall in remittances.
Political uncertainty, uncertainty over approvals on new textile package and unattended tax proposals in the federal budget and concerns over surging circular debt crises played a catalyst role in bearish close, he added.
Dewan Cement was the volume leader with 13.639 million shares. It gained Re 0.17 to close at Rs 19.67 followed by Ist Dawood Bank which lost Re. 0.99 to Rs 4.02 with 12.77 million shares. Sui South Gas was the third highest trading share with 11.806 million shares. It closed at Rs 36.69, up Rs 1.47.
Bhanero Tex and ICI Pakistan were the top gainers with Rs 37.50 and Rs 15.00 to close at Rs 787.51 and Rs 900.00, respectively. Unilever Food and Bata (Pak) were the top losers with Rs 354.05 and Rs 110.22 to Rs 8,100.00 and Rs 2,318.78, respectively.
BR Commercial Banks Index closed at 8,640.58 points with a net negative change of -13.39 points or a percentage change of -0.15 and a total turnover of 6,711,800.
BR Cement Index closed at 5,502.51 points with a net negative change of -52.47 points or a percentage change of -0.94 and a total turnover of 37,820,450.
BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 5,484.54 points with a net negative change of -31.11 points or a percentage change of -0.56 and a total turnover of 17,447,080.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 1,138.80 points with a net negative change of -20.92 points or a percentage change of -1.8 and a total turnover of 9,847,500.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index closed at 6,367.52 points with a net negative change of -117.92 points or a percentage change of -1.82 and a total turnover of 10,034,500.
According to JS global, KSE-100 index gained to make an intraday high of +172 points during the initial hours of the day. However, on account of political noise and foreign selling, the index plummeted to close 261 points below yesterday''s closing, at 43,595 level.
Market also witnessed sluggish volumes in today''s trading session, totaling to 165 million shares.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include DCL, FDIBL, SSGC, UNITY and FCCL reflecting 37% of total volumes.
Scripts that contributed positively include HBL (+18pts), SSGC (+9pts), UBL (+8pts), EFERT (+5pts) and ICI (+4pts). Stocks that contributed negatively include HUBC (-33pts), SNGP (-21pts), LUCK (-17pts), PPL (-13pts) and ENGRO (-12pts).