KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Wednesday closed on a negative note due to selling in various sectors.

BRIndex100 lost 10.77 points or 0.26 percent to close at 4,202.28 points. BRIndex100 hit intraday high of 4,214.90 and intraday low of 4,181.39 points. Volumes stood at 126.555 million shares.

BRIndex30 decreased by 111.81 points or 0.53 percent to close at 21,118.92 points with a turnover of 76.061 million shares.

The KSE-100 Index declined by 138.00 points or 0.34 percent to close at 40,514.67 points. Daily trading volumes on the ready counter decreased to 145.897 million shares as compared to 150.341 million shares traded Tuesday.

Foreign investors also remained net sellers of shares worth $329,276. The market capitalization declined by Rs 26 billion to Rs 7.444 trillion. Out of total 377 active scrips, 203 closed in negative and 149 in positive while the value of 25 stocks remained unchanged.

TRG Pak was the volume leader with 11.953 million shares and increased by Rs 1.20 to close at Rs 53.80 followed by Unity Foods that gained Rs 0.03 to close at Rs 22.86 with 8.830 million shares. Island Textile and Rafhan Maize were the top gainers increasing by Rs 90.00 and Rs 80.00 respectively to close at Rs 1725.00 and Rs 8255.00 while Colgate Palmolive and Nestle Pakistan were the top losers declining by Rs 50.92 and Rs 19.01 respectively to close at Rs 2799.08 and Rs 6469.99.

BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 2.03 points or 0.03 percent to close at 7,806.23 points with total turnover of 2.478 million shares.

BR Cement Index decreased by 32.69 points or 0.55 percent to close at 5,862.70 points with 12.328 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index lost 6.02 points or 0.07 percent to close at 8,500.98 points with 19.544 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index closed at 4,882.55 points, down 3.36 points or 0.07 percent with 8.496 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index declined by 39.59 points or 1.06 percent to close at 3,682.40 points with 8.328 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index fell by 18.68 points or 0.98 percent to close at 1,924.67 points with 26.528 million shares.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market traded rangebound but maintained a downtrend in contrast with Tuesday. Banks, E&P and Cement sector stocks dipped on concerns relating to spread of coronavirus as well as resumption of the IMF package, which requires an upward adjustment in electricity tariff as well as curtailment of subsidies.

International crude oil prices went up by 1.0 percent during the session, however, local E&P companies failed to reciprocate. Foreign selling in banking sector stocks created an extra pressure on the Index, which lost 308 points during the session, closing -138 points.

Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (down 51 points), Cement (down 24 points), O&GMCs (down 17 points), Fertilizer (down 16 points) and Food (down 10 points).

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include MCB (up 15 points), TRG (up 12 points), ISL (up 6 points), MEBL (up 6 points) and FFC (up 5 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include HBL (down 20 points), PPL (down 19 points), ENGRO (down 17 points), PSO (down 14 points) and POL (down 14 points).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020