KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday nosedived due to panic selling in almost all sectors on investors concerns over increasing coronavirus cases and prevailing political uncertainty in the country. BRIndex100 decreased by 93.52 points or 2.26 percent to close at 4,043.62 points. BRIndex100 hit intraday high of 4,137.16 and intraday low of 4,010.59 points. Volumes stood at 287.723 million shares.

BRIndex30 declined by 516.53 points or 2.45 percent to close at 20,545.13 points with a turnover of 211.856 million shares.

The KSE-100 Index plunged by 775.82 points or 1.94 percent to close at 39,112.18 points. Trading activity also remained thin as daily volumes on the ready counter decreased to 322.289 million shares as compared to 541.779 million shares traded on previous session.

Foreign investors also remained net sellers of shares worth $657,662. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 144 billion to Rs 7.255 trillion. Out of total 396 active scrips, 294 closed in negative and only 87 in positive while the value of 15 stocks remained unchanged.

Hascol Petroleum was the volume leader with 32.404 million shares however lost Rs 1.07 to close at Rs 13.82 followed by Unity Foods that gained Rs 0.37 to close at Rs 23.27 with 31.221 million shares. Rafhan Maize and Unilever Foods were the top gainers increasing by Rs 125.00 and Rs 100.00 respectively to close at Rs 8325.00 and Rs 13,000.00 while Pak Tobacco and Bata Pak were the top losers declining by Rs 122.96 and Rs 118.85 respectively to close at Rs 1527.04 and Rs 1469.90.

BR Automobile Assembler Index declined by 211.73 points or 2.71 percent to close at 7,605.56 points with total turnover of 3.208 million shares.

BR Cement Index fell by 93.92 points or 1.57 percent to close at 5,888.94 points with 49.411 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index plunged by 168.82 points or 2.08 percent to close at 7,963.84 points with 16.166 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index lost 32.62 points or 0.66 percent to close at 4,899.43 points with 20.105 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index decreased by 124.31 points or 3.44 percent to close at 3,490.86 points with 46.477 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 1,686.28 points, down 54.99 points or 3.16 percent with 20.224 million shares.

"Carnage was witnessed at the local bourse as the KSE-100 Index made an intraday low of minus 1,109 points and to close at 39,112 level, down 776 points," Danish Ladhani at JS Global Capital said.

Market remained under duress mainly due to the increase in the Covid 19 cases worldwide while oil in the international market plummeted more than 4 percent as countries renewed restrictions to curb a second wave of coronavirus infections. Moreover, on the local side political uncertainty and fears of another lockdown further depressed the market. Selling pressure was witnessed in the overall with Banks and E&P sector losing value the most as BOP (down 0.8 percent), UBL (down 2.9 percent), HBL (down 3.2 percent), MCB (down 2.4 percent), POL (down 0.9 percent), PPL (down 4.8 percent) and OGDC (down 4.9 percent) closed in the negative region.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020