KSE-100 Index closes in deep red: BRIndex100 nosedives

Despite foreign buying, Pakistan Stock Exchange Monday witnessed a bearish trend. It closed in deep red due to panic selling by local investors. BRIndex100 lost 101.63 points or 3.09 percent to close at 3,186.31 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 3,288.00 and intraday low of 3,174.13 points. Volumes stood at 114.776 million shares.
BRIndex30 decreased by 533.85 points or 3.13 percent to close at 16,534.14 points with a turnover of 84.265 million shares. The KSE-100 Index declined by 829.42 points or 2.65 percent. It closed at 30,520.60 points. Trading activity remained low as daily volumes decreased to 122.081 million shares as compared to 230.725 million shares traded last Friday.
Foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $1.4 million. The market capitalization declined by Rs 112 billion to Rs 6.227 trillion. Out of total 335 active scrips, 269 closed in negative, only 56 in positive while the value of 10 stocks remained unchanged.
Lotte Chemical was the volume leader with 19.792 million shares. It gained Re 0.23 to close at Rs 16.52 followed by Bank of Punjab that lost Re 0.51 to close at Rs 7.94 with 6.984 million shares. Pak Tobacco and Sanofi-Aventis were the top gainers with Rs 108.65 and Rs 27.30, respectively to close at Rs 2,281.65 and Rs 576.00. Murree Brewery and Bhanero Textile were the top losers with Rs 38.60 and Rs 38.00, respectively to close at Rs 734.40 and Rs 762.00.
BR Automobile Assembler Index decreased by 96.79 points or 1.95 percent to close at 4,860.55 points with total turnover of 2.147 million shares. BR Cement Index plunged by 133.94 points or 4.66 percent to close at 2,742.10 points with 14.049 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index declined by 125.1 points or 1.66 percent to close at 7,395.28 points with 15.091 million. BR Power Generation and Distribution Index fell by 99.41 points or 2.32 percent to close at 4,193.72 points with 7.137 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 3,344.05 points, down 158.94 points or 4.54 percent with 11.548 million shares. BR Tech. & Comm. Index lost 35.39 points or 5.15 percent to close at 651.87 points with 9.270 million shares. Maaz Mulla at JS Global Capital said that the Pakistan equities closed negative with the KSE-100 Index nose-diving 829 points, closing at 30,520 levels, down 2.6 percent.
Local bourse came under pressure, in line with its regional peers, after the latest escalation in the US-China trade war renewed uncertainties about global economies. Oil on the other hand plummeted in the international market, dropping to the lowest in more than two weeks. OGDC (down 5.0 percent) and PPL (down 5.0 percent) closed limit down whereas POL (down 3.5 percent) also came under the hammer in the E&Ps.
In the Cements, LUCK (down 4.7 percent) was the major laggard contributing towards the negative close while MLCF (down 5.0 percent), CHCC (down 4.7 percent) and DGKC (down 5.0 percent) closed limit down. In the Fertilizers, ENGRO (down 3.7 percent) also contributed negatively towards the index. In the Financials HBL (down 1.8 percent), MCB (down 1.6 percent) and UBL (down 1.0 percent) were the major laggards.