KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday closed on a negative note because of concerns on economic and political front.
The benchmark KSE-100 index lost 628 points to close at 39,832 points on Thursday compared to 40,460 points on Wednesday. The stock market opened in the positive zone gained 117 points during the intraday trading but investors opted for selling which dragged the benchmark KSE-100 index to an intraday low of 658.49 points and finally market closed in negative zone.
On Thursday, BRIndex100 declined by 71 points or 1.77 percent to 3,918 point down from 3,989 points. It touched an intraday high of 4,001.48 points and an intraday low of 3,916 points with a total volume of 141.875 million shares. WorldCall Telecom was the most traded company in BRIndex100 with a volume of 16.009 million shares.
BRIndex30 opened at 14,476 points and finally closed at 14,053.43 points, down by 422.59 points or 2.92 percent with a total volume of 104.399 million shares.
Analysts said that lackluster activities witnessed at the beginning of the trading on Thursday due to low volumes followed by declining trend in PKR and ambiguity over assembly elections. Sectors contributing to the performance include Fertilizer (-100.0 points), Banks (-91.2 points), E&P (-78.8 points), Cement (-60.9 points) and Chemical (-45.4 points).
The market capitalization also decreased by Rs 109 billion to Rs 6.709 trillion down from Rs 6.818 trillion. Overall trading volumes increased from 142 million to 158 million shares. Average traded value decreased by 4.8 percent to reach $18.9 million as against $19.8 million. Out of total 333 active scrips, 40 closed in positive and only 269 in negative while the value of 24 stocks remained unchanged.
Among top scrips, WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 16 million shares and closed at Rs 1.21 followed by TPL Properties that closed at Rs 16.25 with 11.8 million shares. Unity Foods ranked third with 10 million shares and closed at Rs 16.72.
Aallawasaya Tex and Nestle Pakistan were the top gainers increasing by Rs 176.25 and Rs 37.50 respectively to close at Rs 2,526.25 and Rs 5,980.00, while Mehmood Tex and Premium Tex were the top losers declining by Rs 54.95 and Rs 63.74 respectively to close at Rs 700.05 and Rs 786.25.
BR Automobile Assembler Index lost 175.65 points to close at 9,319.64 points with a total turnover of 746,792. BR Cement Index also declines by 84.12 points or 2.22 percent to 3,704.10 points on Thursday with a total turnover of 8.321 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index decreased by 91.17 points to closed at 8,328.81 points with a total turnover of 9.808 million shares. BR Power Generation and Distribution Index closed at 5,381.61 points with a net negative change of 91.34 points or a percentage change of 1.67 and a total turnover of 8,608,546.
BR Oil and Gas Index declined by 72.32 points to close at 3,715.81 points with a total turnover of 11.974 million shares. BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 3,242.16 points, down by 50.14 points with a total turnover of 34.016 million shares.
Analysts said that bearish activity witnessed at PSX amid thin trade on political noise and dismal earnings outlook amid record falling rupee and surge in energy prices. IMF new conditions on assurance over $4 billion Saudi funding ahead of release of $1.7 billion tranche and uncertainty over funding of friendly countries played a catalyst role in bearish close, they added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022