KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Monday opened on a strong positive note, however failed to sustain this momentum and closed in deep red due to panic selling over investors’ concerns over prevailing political situation in the country.
BRIndex100 decreased by 92.74 points or 1.87 percent to close at 4,860.91 points. BRIndex100 hit an intraday high of 5,013.25 and an intraday low of 4,839.66 points. Volumes stood at 432.382 million shares.
BRIndex30 declined by 554.45 points or 2.16 percent to close at 25,151.13 points with total daily turnover of 304.254 million shares.
The KSE-100 Index plunged by 786.29 points or 1.71 percent to close at 45,051.06 points. Daily trading volumes on the ready counter increased to 459.870 million shares as compared to 317.237 million shares traded last Friday.
Foreign investors however emerged net buyers of equities worth $2.838 million. The market capitalization declined by Rs 110 billion to Rs 8.082 trillion. Out of total 405 active scrips, 311 closed in negative and only 85 in positive while the value of 9 stocks remained unchanged.
Azgard Nine was the volumes leader with 48.203 million shares and gained Rs 0.88 to close at Rs 34.83 followed by Unity Foods that inched up by Rs 0.89 to close at Rs 30.96 with 45.359 million shares. Sapphire Textile and Indus Dyeing were the top gainers increasing by Rs 63.65 and Rs 51.63 respectively to close at Rs 1046.00 and Rs 912.24 while Indus Motor Co and Philip Morris Pak were the top losers declining by Rs 75.73 and Rs 54.33 respectively to close at Rs 1024.42 and Rs 1300.00.
BR Automobile Assembler Index declined by 275.69 points or 3.12 percent to close at 8,568.69 points with total turnover of 3.090 million shares.
BR Cement Index plunged by 279.98 points or 3.77 percent to close at 7,151.95 points with 38.219 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index lost 93.94 points or 1.09 percent to close at 8,559.29 points with 26.710 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index decreased by 141.42 points or 2.46 percent to close at 5,618.82 points with 18.630 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index fell by 50.92 points or 1.22 percent to close at 4,130.72 points with 19.954 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 3,682.48 points, down 29.36 points or 0.79 percent with 78.832 million shares.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said in the aftermath of PM’s vote of confidence from the parliament, market saw a heavy drawdown with an oscillation of 1583 points posting an increase of 595 points in the early part of the session and dropping by 988 points during the session.
Political uncertainty emanating from possible change in Punjab’s political setup perturbed investors, at the same time recent rapid upsurge in inflation (primarily international crude oil prices) also caused investors to think twice about upcoming monetary policy and impact thereof on cyclicals.
Resultantly, cement, steel, O&GMCs saw major attrition. Over the weekend increase in international crude oil prices helped E&P stocks to stay afloat, however, selling pressure in other stocks also brought pressure in OGDC and PPL as well.
Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (down 205 points), Banks (down 104 points), Power (down 67 points), Autos (down 49 points) and Pharma (down 46 points).
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include PAKT (up 10 points), POL (up 10 points), ANL (up 7 points), MEBL (up 3 points) and FCEPL (up 2 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include LUCK (down 85 points), HUBC (down 48 points), HBL (down 39 points), DGKC (down 36 points) and INDU (down 24 points).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021