KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Wednesday witnessed a bearish trend due to selling in almost all sectors on investor concerns over increasing oil and commodity prices in the international market. The oil prices in the international market surged to $111 per barrel while the prices of coal and other commodities are increasing as the supply chain is affected after Ukraine-Russia war.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index declined by 289.46 points or 0.65 percent and closed at 44,514.12 points. During the session, the KSE-100 Index hit 44,133.58 points intraday low level, down 670 points, however fresh buying in some stocks supported the index to minimize its intraday losses.
Trading activity remained thin due to investor lack of interest as total daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 235.034 million shares as compared to 309.346 million shares traded on Tuesday while total daily traded value on ready counter declined to Rs 9.346 billion against previous day’s Rs 10.448 billion.
BRIndex100 lost 32.11 points or 0.71 percent to close at 4,517.49 points with total daily turnover of 203.914 million shares.
BRIndex30 closed at 16,780.57 points, up 3.95 points or 0.02 percent with total daily trading volumes of 124.317 million shares.
Foreign investors also remained net sellers of shares worth $86,928. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 21 billion to Rs 7.660 trillion. Out of total 354 active scrips, 215 closed in negative and 114 in positive while the value of 25 stocks remained unchanged.
TRG Pak was the volume leader with 21.922 million shares and increased by Rs 4.29 to close at Rs 78.72 followed by Telecard Limited that lost Rs 0.30 to close at Rs 14.66 with 15.118 million shares. Hum Network closed at Rs 7.41, up Rs 0.24 with 12.761 million shares.
Nestle Pakistan and Rafhan Maize were the top gainers increasing by Rs 245.00 and Rs 175.00 respectively to close at Rs 5,745.00 and Rs 11,300.00 while Sapphire Textile and Faisal Spinning were the top losers declining by Rs 79.27 and Rs 32.52 respectively to close at Rs 978.93 and Rs 457.38.
“Another bearish session witnessed at PSX due to major hike in global commodity prices,” an analyst at Arif Habib Limited said. Cement sector took a major correction due to spike in international coal prices, whereas good participation was observed in E&P and OMC stocks as international oil prices made a record high $111.47. Healthy participation was observed during the day, as value investors accumulated blue chip stocks across the board.
Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (down 84.3 points), Fertilizer (down 59.4 points), Banks (down 58.5 points), Power (down 30.2 points) and Inv. Banks (down 29.8 points).
BR Automobile Assembler Index decreased by 90.38 points or 0.98 percent to close at 9,164.05 points with total turnover of 1.058 million shares.
BR Cement Index declined by 110.81 points or 2.06 percent to close at 5,278.75 points with 16.605 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index lost 52.64 points or 0.52 percent to close at 10,017.73 points with 15.530 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index fell by 67.45 points or 1.15 percent to close at 5,806.73 points with 4.190 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index gained 25.76 points or 0.64 percent to close at 4,033.93 points with 16.080 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 3,419.74 points, up 2.53 points or 0.07 percent with 84.217 million shares.
An analyst at Topline Securities said that Pakistan equities closed red where benchmark KSE-100 Index settled at 44,514 level, down 0.65 percent.
Higher international commodity prices and rising geopolitical tensions led the market to open sideways as market make an intraday low of 669 points. However in last hour witnessed some recovery where TRG, POL, OGDC and PPL closed higher where on the other hand LUCK, ENGRO and SYS were the major laggards.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022