KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Thursday witnessed mixed trend and after moving both sides finally closed on negative note due to investors lack of interest on depreciating PKR against US$ coupled with prevailing economic and political situation in the country. The benchmark KSE-100 index hit 43,258.59 points intra-day high and 42,945.47 points intra-day low levels before closing at 42,983.45 points, down 43.43 points or 0.10 percent.

Trading activities also remained low as total daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 187.101 million shares as compared to 278.803 million shares traded on Wednesday while total daily traded value on ready counter declined to Rs 5.084 billion against previous day’s Rs 6.911 billion.

BRIndex100 lost 2.92 points or 0.07 percent to close at 4,274.76 points with total daily turnover of 169.393 million shares.

BRIndex30 decreased by 68.17 points or 0.46 percent to close at 14,895.98 points with total daily trading volumes of 119.630 million shares.

The foreign investors also remained net sellers of shares worth $378,581. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 8 billion to Rs 7.120 trillion. Out of total 334 active scrips, 195 closed in negative and 122 in positive while the value of 17 stocks remained unchanged.

Ghani Global Holding was the volume leader with 15.096 million shares however lost Re 0.39 to close at Rs 16.02 followed by WorldCall Telecom that closed at the previous day’s closing level at Rs 1.54 without any change with 13.387 million shares. Silk Bank gained Re 0.14 to close at Rs 1.22 with 13.098 million shares.

Sapphire Fiber and Sapphire Textile were the top gainers increasing by Rs 70.99 and Rs 70.05 respectively to close at Rs 1023.00 and Rs 1004.55 while Rafhan Maize and Gatron Industries were the top losers declining by Rs 89.07 and Rs 33.65 respectively to close at Rs 10,000.00 and Rs 415.10.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said the market witnessed a range bound session as concerns over Pak Rupee devaluation against US Dollar kept the investors silent. The KSE-100 Index witnessed a sluggish day as investors await clarity on the resumption of IMF Program to accelerate much-needed confidence. Main board activity remained dull on the contrary hefty volumes were observed in 3rd tier stocks.

Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P’s (down 39.5 points), Cement (down 17.3 points), Banks (down 14.6 points) and Investment Banks (down 9.6 points).

BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 6.52 points or 0.07 percent to close at 9,695.04 points with 1.001 million shares.

BR Cement Index decreased by 27.61 points or 0.62 percent to close at 4,412.18 points with 14.251 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index lost 7.65 points or 0.08 percent to close at 9,546.78 points with 21.756 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index inched up by 11.87 points or 0.22 percent to close at 5,325.59 points with 4.257 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index fell by 26.15 points or 0.72 percent to close at 3,614.85 points with 5.290 million shares.

BR Tech & Comm Index closed at 3,290.39 points, down 9.46 points or 0.29 percent with 37.463 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that stocks closed under pressure on falling rupee and investor expectations of tough government decisions on energy prices to resume IMF programme.

He said slump in global equities and global crude oil prices and delays over approval of sought Saudi aid package played a catalyst role in bearish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022