Selling pressure sets in on PSX: BRIndex100 depressed

After witnessing a highly volatile session, Pakistan Stock Exchange Tuesday ended on a negative note.

BRIndex100 lost 1.24 points or 0.03 percent to close at 4,549.24 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,577.63 and intraday low of 4,538.14 points. Volumes stood at 231.694 million shares.

BRIndex30 declined by 151.87 points or 0.63 percent to close at 24,060.80 points with daily turnover of 135.494 million shares.

The KSE-100 Index decreased by 11.63 points or 0.03 percent to close at 43,207.04 points. Trading activity remained low as daily volumes on the ready counter decreased to 249.669 million shares as compared to 366.135 million shares traded Monday.

Foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $1.2 million. The market capitalization declined by Rs 13 billion to Rs 8.080 trillion. Out of total 376 active scrips, 187 closed in negative, 173 in positive while the value of 16 stocks remained unchanged.

Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 18.020 million shares. It gained Re 0.10 to close at Rs 13.38 followed by TRG Pak that lost Re 0.33 to close at Rs 28.32 with 16.478 million shares.

Shezan International and Mehmood Textile were the top gainers with Rs 24.99 and Rs 21.00, respectively to close at Rs 558.99 and Rs 442.00. Colgate Palmolive and Nestle Pakistan were the top losers with Rs 100.00 and Rs 75.00, respectively to close at Rs 2,500.00 and Rs 8,000.00.

BR Automobile Assembler Index increased by 81.52 points or 1.33 percent to close at 6,203.30 points with total turnover of 4.217 million shares.

BR Cement Index decreased by 24.51 points or 0.63 percent to close at 3,892.85 points with 26.579 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index gained 11.52 points or 0.11 percent to close at 10,219.03 points with 44.691 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index inched up by 11.57 points or 0.2 percent to close at 5,914.05 points with 16.991 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index fell by 42.47 points or 0.83 percent to close at 5,085.26 points with 11.237 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 1,069.62 points, up 3.25 points or 0.3 percent with 42.382 million shares.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market replicated the performance seen on Monday with a sway from plus 250 points to minus 123 points and closing the session down 12 points.

Mainly cyclicals faced the music with major selling pressure was witnessed in cement stocks (due to higher coal prices) and steel sector stocks. E&P sector also saw selling pressure, whereby OGDC, PPL and POL traded in red territory. EPCL also faced heavy selling after announcement of issuance of preference shares.

Banking sector stocks remained in the limelight even today with trading volumes of 44.7 million shares, followed by Technology (42.4 million shares) and Cement (26.6 million shares).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Fertilizer (up 48 points), Banks (up 21 points), E&P (down 53 points), Chemical (down 21 points) and Cement (down 20 points).

Stocks that contributed positively include ENGRO (up 45 points), UBL (up 34 points), HUBC (up 23 points), DAWH (up 20 points) and EFERT (up 7 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include PPL (down 27 points), OGDC (down 23 points), SNGP (down 16 points), COLG (down 13 points) and MCB (down 10 points).