KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange nosedived right from opening on Thursday which was last trading session before weeklong Eid holidays. Heavy selling pressure was witnessed due to investor concerns over abnormal increase in T-bill rates.

The market opened on a negative note and remained in red zone throughout the day’; however, late buying in some stocks minimized the intra-day losses.

The benchmark KSE-100 index hit 44,648.48 points intra-day low level and closed at 45,249.41 points with net loss of 283.89 points or 0.62 percent.

Trading activities; however, improved as total daily volumes on ready counter increased to 325.466 million shares as compared to 223.822 million shares traded on Wednesday while total daily traded value increased to Rs 9.290 billion against previous day’s Rs 5.583 billion.

KSE-100 stages recovery, but still ends 0.62% lower

BRIndex100 lost 41.48 points or 0.91 percent to close at 4,551.39 points with total daily turnover of 298.790 million shares.

BRIndex30 plunged by 432.08 points or 2.58 percent to close at 16,336.22 points with 209.309 million shares.

The foreign investors; however, remained net buyers of shares worth $1.481 million. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 56 billion to Rs 7.519 trillion. Out of total 340 active scrips, 233 closed in negative and only 93 in positive while the value of 14 stocks remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 37.497 million shares; however; it lost Rs 0.02 to close at Rs 1.68 followed by Cnergyico PK that closed at Rs 6.35, down Rs 0.44 with 34.661 million shares. Hum Network inched down by Rs 0.20 to close at Rs 7.62 with 27.431 million shares.

Nestle Pakistan and Sapphire Fiber were the top gainers increasing by Rs 74.99 and Rs 65.90, respectively to close at Rs 5875.00 and Rs 1059.50 while Pak Tobacco and Rafhan Maize were the top losers declining by Rs 51.99 and Rs 50.00, respectively to close at Rs 998.01 and Rs 11,600.00.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market nosedived right from the opening due to T-bill yields recorded 24 years high on Wednesday. The benchmark KSE-100 index traded in the red zone throughout the day as bears dominated the market and investor opted for profit selling. The session remained volatile as selling was observed across the board. On the contrary hefty volumes were observed in 3rd tier stocks.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Technology (down 56.9 points), Fertilizer (down 49.5 points), Power (down 46.5 points) and E&P (down 43.7 points).

BR Automobile Assembler Index increased by 110.78 points or 1.16 percent to close at 9,631.15 points with total turnover of 1.412 million shares.

BR Cement Index declined by 51.83 points or 1.03 percent to close at 4,987.49 points with 19.888 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index lost 14.59 points or 0.14 percent to close at 10,083.86 points with 12.090 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index plunged by 119.88 points or 2.1 percent to close at 5,583.04 points with 13.580 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 3,807.33 points, down 27.37 points or 0.71 percent with 11.735 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index decreased by 80.44 points or 2.16 percent to close at 3,644.45 points with 91.691 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that stocks closed lower on record surge in government bond yields to 14.99 percent impacting equities. Mid-session support witnessed on strong financial results in oil and banking sector and reports of $7.4 billion Saudi aid package sought by the government.

He said Pak Rupee instability and uncertainty over terms of IMF bailout program played a catalyst role in bearish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022