KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Monday nosedived due to panic selling on investors' concerns over surging trade deficit, high energy and commodity prices as well as prospects of further electricity tariff hikes. BRIndex100 decreased by 100.96 points or 2.17 percent to close at 4,551.40 points. BRIndex100 hit intraday high of 4,659.03 points and intraday low of 4,544.36 points. Total volumes stood at 203.639 million shares.

The KSE-100 Index plunged by 647.89 points or 1.46 percent and closed below 44,000 psychological level at 43,829.35 points. Daily trading volumes on ready counter stood at 226.575 million shares as compared to 176.069 million shares traded on previous session.

BRIndex30 declined by 1087.01 points or 4.93 percent to close at 20,973.94 points with total daily turnover of 130.929 million shares.

Foreign investors also remained net sellers of shares worth $4.024 million. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 108 billion to Rs 7.678 trillion. Out of total 548 active scrips, 470 closed in negative and only 61 in positive while the value of 17 stocks remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 41.362 million shares however lost Rs 0.28 to close at Rs 2.25 followed by Telecard Limited that closed at Rs 17.27, down Rs 1.40 with 13.891 million shares. Colgate Palmolive and Gatron Industries were the top gainers increasing by Rs 52.00 and Rs 36.00 respectively to close at Rs 2500.00 and Rs 516.00 while Nestle Pakistan and Systems Limited were the top losers declining by Rs 196.50 and Rs 35.00 respectively to close at Rs 5805.00 and Rs 690.61.

BR Automobile Assembler Index decreased by 162.12 points or 1.88 percent to close at 8,457.53 points with total turnover of 1.464 million shares.

BR Cement Index declined by 183.31 points or 3.33 percent to close at 5,329.06 points with 11.980 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index lost 62.04 points or 0.66 percent to close at 9,333.26 points with 15.777 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index fell by 35.7 points or 0.66 percent to close at 5,390.91 points with 6.035 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 3,721.71 points, down 17.24 points or 0.46 percent with 10.601 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index plunged by 269.36 points or 5.71 percent to close at 4,451.52 points with 82.565 million shares.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market tumbled again on concerns over high energy and commodity prices as well as prospects of further electricity tariff hikes that can lead to erosion of purchasing power and an economic contraction. Foreigners continued selling stocks unabated that brought the index down by 759 points during the session and closed the session down 648 points.

Increase in international oil prices failed to have a material impact on the stock prices of E&P stocks. Selling pressure was witnessed across the board, however, Technology, Cement, O&GMCs contributed to downward trend.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Technology (down 202 points), Cement (down 121 points), Banks (down 56 points), Engineering (down 49 points) and O&GMCs (down 36 points). Stocks that contributed positively to the index include PPL (up 21 points), COLG (up 9 points), HUBC (up 8 points), ABL (up 7 points) and FML (up 7 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include TRG (down 119 points), SYS (down 68 points), LUCK (down 26 points), FFC (down 25 points) and UNITY (down 25 points).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021