KARACHI: Despite foreign buying, Pakistan Stock Exchange Thursday closed on a negative note as investors opted to book profits on available margins. BRIndex100 lost 13.7 points or 0.27 percent to close at 5,008.23 points. BRIndex100 hit intraday high of 5,075.72 and intraday low of 4,989.05 points. Volumes stood at 397.981 million shares.
BRIndex30 decreased by 310.52 points or 1.19 percent to close at 25,674.92 points with total daily turnover of 248.144 million shares.
The KSE-100 Index closed at 46,905.79 points, down 27.84 points or 0.06 percent. Trading activities remained low as daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 440.278 million shares as compared to 616.309 million shares traded on Wednesday.
The foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $1.938 million. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 7 billion to Rs 8.480 trillion. Out of total 430 active scrips, 248 closed in negative and 161 in positive while the value of 21 stocks remained unchanged.
Pak Refinery was the volume leader with 34.493 million shares and gained Rs 0.27 to close at Rs 28.19 followed by TRG Pak that declined by Rs 4.42 to close at Rs 114.99 with 30.377 million shares. Rafhan Maize and Mari Petroleum were the top gainers increasing by Rs 705.00 and Rs 115.04 respectively to close at Rs 10,890.00 and Rs 1649.02 while Unilever Foods and Pak Tobacco were the top losers declining by Rs 499.99 and Rs 48.00 respectively to close at Rs 14000.01 and Rs 1550.00.
BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 1.5 points or 0.02 percent to close at 8,775.19 points with total turnover of 4.567 million shares.
BR Cement Index lost 27.06 points or 0.4 percent to close at 6,801.62 points with 36.912 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index decreased by 33.49 points or 0.36 percent to close at 9,357.41 points with 37.509 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index fell by 43 points or 0.7 percent to close at 6,099.32 points with 27.719 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index increased by 65.71 points or 1.53 percent to close at 4,361.96 points with 40.972 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index declined by 33.67 points, down 33.67 points or 1.02 percent to close at 3,251.40 points with 69.600 million shares.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that the stocks closed lower in the earnings season rally on weak global stocks and institutional profit taking in overbought scrips. Early session support witnessed on surging global crude oil prices, impact of $400 million receipts in Roshan Digital Accounts and rupee stability.
He said investor concerns over surge in local POL prices and investor concerns for fiscal deficit surge to Rs 1.13 trillion for July- December 2020 played a catalyst role for bearish close.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021