PSX succumbs to profit-taking: BRIndex100 retreats

Investors Wednesday opted to book profits on available margins that forced the Pakistan Stock Exchange to close on a negative note.

BRIndex100 lost 56.55 points or 1.4 percent to close at 3,992.10 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,060.06 and intraday low of 3,986.96 points. Volumes stood at 281.473 million shares.

BRIndex30 decreased by 392.9 points or 1.89 percent to close at 20,436.62 points with a turnover of 176.495 million shares.

The KSE-100 Index declined by 526.69 points or 1.37 percent to close at 38,037.68 points. Trading activity also remained thin as daily volumes on the ready counter decreased to 327.637 million shares as compared to 385.321 million shares traded Tuesday.

The market capitalization declined by Rs 89 billion to Rs 7.258 trillion. Out of total 384 active scrips, 235 closed in negative, 130 in positive while the value of 19 stocks remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 28.332 million shares. It gained Re 0.01 to close at Rs 1.59 followed by Bank of Punjab that lost Re 0.33 to close at Rs 10.73 with 17.097 million shares.

Unilever Foods and Island Textile were the top gainers with Rs 345.00 and Rs 70.93, respectively to close at Rs 7,245.00 and Rs 1,490.10. Nestle Pakistan and Colgate Palmolive were the top losers with Rs 110.00 and Rs 100.00, respectively to close at Rs 6,225.00 and Rs 1,940.00.

BR Automobile Assembler Index declined by 82.28 points or 1.35 percent to close at 6,002.53 points with total turnover of 2.099 million shares.

BR Cement Index decreased by 74.13 points or 2.11 percent to close at 3,442.49 points with 25.941 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index plunged by 173.64 points or 1.97 percent to close at 8,650.41 points with 33.017 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index lost 52.51 points or 0.95 percent to close at 5,466.87 points with 22.177 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index fell 78.61 points or 1.76 percent to close at 4,390.21 points with 22.002 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 907.24 points, down 6.24 points or 0.68 percent with 50.471 million shares.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said after managing a bull run that added 10,000 points from its low, the market finally took corrective stance.

Selling pressure was evident in Cement, E&P, O&GMCs and Banking sector stocks. Although dust is seemingly settling on the political front, investors took cue from T-bill auction that saw yields increasing further and considered it best to book profit prior to announcement of monetary policy on Friday (Nov 22).

The index is so far maintaining healthy volumes registering 327 million shares as compared with 385 million shares in the previous session. Majority of the volumes were traded in Technology with 50.4 million shares, followed by Engineering (38 million shares) and Banks (33 million shares).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (down 203 points), E&P (down 113 points), Cement (down 49 points), Fertilizer (down 30 points) and Chemical (down 24 points).

Stocks that contributed positively include FFC (up 24 points), NATF (up 10 points), THALL (up 7 points), ISL (up 7 points) and AGP (up 5 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include HBL (down 63 points), ENGRO (down 49 points), OGDC (down 35 points), UBL (down 34 points) and MCB (down 33 points).