KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Monday witnessed a bearish trend and closed in deep red due to heavy selling in almost all sectors on investor concerns over political uncertainty and depreciating PKR against the USD.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index declined by 233.28 points or 0.58 percent and closed below 40,000 psychological level at 39,844.02 points. The index hit 39,721.12 points intraday low.
Due to investor lack of interest, trading activity remained extremely low as total daily volumes on ready counter declined to 75.431 million shares as compared to 171.270 million shares traded on previous session while total daily traded value on ready counter declined to Rs 1.832 billion against previous session’s Rs 4.735 billion.
BRIndex100 lost 31.06 points or 0.79 percent to close at 3,921.91 points with total daily turnover of 69.398 million shares.
BRIndex30 closed at 14,370.00 points, down 5.57 points or 0.04 percent with total daily trading volumes of 57.464 million shares.
Foreign investors also remained net sellers of shares worth $435,202. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 20 billion to Rs 6.733 trillion. Out of total 289 active scrips, 160 closed in negative and 109 in positive while the value of 20 stocks remained unchanged.
TPL Properties was the volume leader with 9.751 million shares and gained Rs 0.11 to close at Rs 16.98 followed by WorldCall Telecom that closed at previous session’s closing level of Rs 1.20 without any change with 9.317 million shares. Lotte Chemical increased by Rs 1.67 to close at Rs 25.79 with 7.995 million shares.
Rafhan Maize and Unilever Foods were the top gainers increasing by Rs 540.00 and Rs 250.00 respectively to close at Rs 10,990.00 and Rs 24,500.00 while Bata Pak and Premium Textile were the top losers declining by Rs 175.42 and Rs 54.75 respectively to close at Rs 2,163.58 and Rs 675.25.
An analyst at Topline Securities said that during the session, lackluster amid low volumes witnessed at the bourse where benchmark KSE-100 Index settled at 39,844 level, down 0.58 percent.
The market kicked off negative with KSE-100 Index making intraday low of minus 356 points. Lack of contribution witnessed as investors needed clarity over political and economic condition ahead.
On the corporate front, ICI notified the exchange regarding public announcement of intention to acquire approximately 75.01% shareholding of Lotte Chemical Pakistan Limited, resultantly LOTCHEM closed at its upper circuit.
Major negative contributors in the trading session were BAHL, UBL, SYS, ENGRO and HBL cumulatively dented the Index by 124 points.
BR Automobile Assembler Index lost 10.52 points or 0.11 percent to close at 9,320.74 points with total turnover of 300,393 shares.
BR Cement Index inched down by 19.31 points or 0.52 percent to close at 3,724.27 points with 2.922 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index declined by 109.81 points or 1.33 percent to close at 8,162.00 points with 2.482 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index decreased by 41.29 points or 0.76 percent to close at 5,365.37 points with 3.354 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 3,733.12 points, down 6.04 points or 0.16 percent with 3.753 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index fell by 34.57 points or 1.04 percent to close at 3,302.11 points with 14.291 million shares.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market witnessed a negative session throughout the day, due to political and economic unrest.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index traded in the red zone as the rupee continued to depreciate against the US dollar.
The investors’ participation remained dull as main board volumes remained dry.
Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (down 110.4 points), Fertilizer (down 37.5 points), Technology (down 27.7 points), Investment Banks (down 19.1 points) and Power (down 18.0 points).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022