KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange remained under pressure during the outgoing week ended on Dec, due to selling in various sectors.
BRIndex100 lost 31.25 points on week-on-week basis to close at 4,569.28 points. Average daily trading volumes stood at 412.440 million shares.
BRIndex30 decreased by 135.82 points during this week to close at 22,917.01 points with average daily turnover of 238.031 million shares.
KSE-100 index declined by 323.79 points on week-on-week basis and closed at 43,416.77 points. Trading activities also remained low as average daily volumes on ready counter decreased by 7.7 percent to 506.96 million shares as compared to previous week’s average of 548.99 million shares. Average daily trading value declined by 10.4 percent to Rs 22.09 billion.
The foreign investors remained net sellers of shares and withdrew $20.438 million from Pakistan capital market during this week. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 79 billion to Rs 7.949 trillion.
An analyst at AKD Securities said that the KSE-100 index started the rollover week on a negative note as global crude oil prices declined by almost $3/bb, concerns regarding a potentially more dangerous strain of COVID-19 coupled with increased border tensions took a toll on the market. However towards mid of the week, market went into a positive momentum on the back of another current account surplus for November 2020 while oil prices also steadied globally.
Oil and gas exploration and refineries were among the major laggards for the week as pressure on oil prices kept the sectors under pressure. On the other hand, cement sector was among the leaders as investors cheered healthy local cement demand despite winter season.
Top performers during the week were GHGL (up 14.7 percent), CHCC (up 11.2 percent), HMM (up 11.0 percent), PIOC (up 9.1 percent) and INIL (up 7.7 percent) whereas laggards were ANL (down 9.9 percent), AGIL (down 7.9 percent), ATRL (down 7.2 percent), MEBL (down 5.4 percent) and PPL (down 5.2 percent).
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the KSE100 index closed the short trading week at 43,417 level, posting a loss of 324 points from previous week’s close.
Foreigners remained net sellers this week with significant selling seen in Fertilizers and Power sectors. This selling was mostly absorbed locally by companies.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020