KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday remained under pressure throughout the day with extremely low participation due to concerns over mounting inflation and expected rate hike in the upcoming monetary policy.
The benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 282.16 points or 0.68 percent and closed at 41,348.19 points. During the session, the index hit 41,685.81 points intra-day high and 41,319.11 points intra-day low level.
Trading activities remained extremely low as total volume on ready counter decreased to 86.619 million shares as compared to 154.030 million shares traded on previous session while total daily traded value on ready counter declined to Rs 3.048 billion against previous session’s Rs 4.031 billion.
BRIndex100 lost 31.43 points or 0.76 percent to close at 4,086.39 points with total daily turnover of 76.752 million shares.
BRIndex30 decreased by 97.62 points or 0.65 percent to close at 14,958.86 with total daily trading volumes of 45.745 million shares.
The foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $83,462. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 15 billion to Rs 6.747 trillion. Out of total 303 active scrips, 197 closed in negative and only 88 in positive while the value of 18 stocks remained unchanged.
SNGPL was the volume leader with 12.474 million shares and gained Rs 0.93 to close at Rs 36.40 followed by Agritech Limited that inched up by Rs 0.20 to close at Rs 6.74 with 8.093 million shares. Pak Refinery closed at Rs 16.91, down Rs 0.56 with 4.387 million shares.
Sanofi-Aventis and Sapphire Textile were the top gainers increasing by Rs 86.13 and Rs 76.40 respectively to close at Rs 1234.61 and Rs 1178.90 while J. D. W. Sugar and Indus Motor Co were the top losers declining by Rs 15.00 and Rs 14.97 respectively to close at Rs 215.00 and Rs 1140.11.
An analyst at Topline Securities said Pakistan equities closed on a negative note where benchmark KSE-100 Index settled at 41,348 level, down 0.68 percent). After sideways opening, the market skid making an intraday low of 307 points amid low volumes as investors waiting for green signal over IMF program.
FFC, LUCK, UBL, BAHL and ENGRO were the major decliners in the trading session cumulatively dented the Index by 124 points.
BR Automobile Assembler Index declined by 76.37 points or 0.77 percent to close at 9,855.87 points with total turnover of 3.120 million shares.
BR Cement Index plunged by 74.95 points or 1.85 percent to close at 3,980.89 points with 8.073 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index lost 10.17 points or 0.12 percent to close at 8,589.78 points with 5.156 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index decreased by 12.75 points or 0.23 percent to close at 5,578.60 points with 4.502 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index fell by 24.84 points or 0.66 percent to close at 3,762.52 points with 14.969 million shares.
BR Technology and Communication Index closed at 3,283.66 points, down 11.34 points or 0.34 percent with 7.998 million shares.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said the market stayed under pressure throughout the day due to concerns over mounting inflation and expected rate hike in the upcoming monetary policy. The benchmark KSE-100 index opened in the green zone but failed to continue this trend due to profit-taking. Volumes remained dry in the main board although decent volumes were witnessed in the 3rd tier stocks. Sectors contributing to the performance include Fertilizer (down 72.6 points), Cement (down 60.8 points), E&P (down 33.2 points), Automobile Assembler (down 18.9 points) and Pharmaceuticals (down 12.9 points).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022