PSX weathers selling pressure: BRIndex100 depressed

Pakistan Stock Exchange Wednesday remained under pressure due to selling in various sectors.

BRIndex100 lost 31.62 points or 0.9 percent to close at 3,475.46 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 3,523.32 and intraday low of 3,470.94 points. Volumes stood at 187.004 million shares.

BRIndex30 decreased by 108.57 points or 0.59 percent to close at 18,157.63 points with a turnover of 143.505 million shares.

The KSE-100 Index declined by 264.57 points or 0.78 percent to close at 33,728.18 points. Trading activity also remained low as daily volumes on the ready counter decreased to 208.973 million shares as compared to 261.325 million shares traded Tuesday.

The market capitalization declined by Rs 22 billion to Rs 6.375 trillion. Out of total 350 active scrips, 163 closed in negative, 158 in positive while the value of 29 stocks remained unchanged.

Hascol Petroleum was the volume leader with 23.803 million shares. It gained Re 0.04 to close at Rs 15.66 followed by Unity Foods that inched up by Re 0.09 to close at Rs 12.71 with 20.467 million shares. Unilever Foods and Nestle Pakistan were the top gainers with Rs 318.00 and Rs 85.98, respectively to close at Rs 10,895.00 and Rs 5,915.11. Rafhan Maize and Shield Corp were the top losers with Rs 49.00 and Rs 16.49, respectively to close at Rs 6,900.00 and Rs 223.51.

BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 2.4 points or 0.04 percent to close at 5,541.95 points with total turnover of 2.560 million shares.

BR Cement Index decreased by 77.56 points or 1.84 percent to close at 4,126.72 points with 24.124 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index declined by 83.01 points or 1.22 percent to close at 6,722.35 points with 10.677 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index plunged by 59.92 points or 1.31 percent to close at 4,501.37 points with 9.369 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 3,561.56 points, down 16.88 points or 0.47 percent with 38.304 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index inched up by 23.44 points or 2.51 percent to close at 957.53 points with 28.976 million shares.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market opened on a positive note today with up 114 points but couldn't sustain selling pressure, which brought the index down in negative territory and witnessed a decline of 317 points. The KSE-100 Index made some recovery by the end of session and closed negative 264 points. Banks, Cement and E&P stocks weathered selling pressure regardless of international crude oil prices.

Fertilizer stocks traded no different than the rest and saw decline in stock prices. Among Banks, HBL saw low prices due to MSCI rebalancing and concerns among investors about a possible exit.

Technology stocks managed to post the highest volumes with 28.9 million shares, followed by O&GMCs (28.2 million shares) and Cement (24.1 million shares).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (down 99 points), Cement (down 53 points), E&P (down 39 points), Fertilizer (down 34 points) and Power (down 34 points).

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include NESTLE (up 9 points), TRG (up 8 points), BAFL (up 6 points), SHEL (up 6 points) and ANL (up 6 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include MCB (down 56 points), HBL (down 42 points), HUBC (down 36 points), LUCK (down 24 points) and FFC (down 18 points).