KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Monday remained under pressure throughout the day and closed in deep red with heavy losses due to concern regarding political noise.
The investors opted to remain sideways and avoided taking fresh positions before the announcement of Monetary Policy Statement by the State Bank of Pakistan.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index plunged by 443.99 points or 1.03 percent and closed below 43,000 psychological level at 42,826.66 points. The index hit 43,317.91 points intraday high and 42,787.14 points intraday low.
Trading activity remained thin due to investor lack of interest as total daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 194.667 million shares as compared to 306.208 million shares traded on previous session, while total daily traded value on ready counter declined to Rs 5.331 billion against previous session’s Rs 6.393 billion.
BRIndex100 decreased by 53.84 points or 1.24 percent to close at 4,282.41 points with total daily turnover of 169.201 million shares.
BRIndex30 declined by 289.85 points or 1.81 percent to close at 15,698.25 points with total daily trading volumes of 120.632 million shares.
Foreign investors also remained net sellers of shares worth $475,588. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 67 billion to Rs 7.134 trillion. Out of total 329 active scrips, 245 closed in negative and only 66 in positive while the value of 18 stocks remained unchanged.
Pak Refinery was the volume leader with 17.526 million shares however lost Rs 0.69 to close at Rs 19.14 followed by K-Electric that closed at Rs 3.35, down Rs 0.08 with 14.689 million shares. WorldCall Telecom inched down by Rs 0.08 to close at Rs 1.38 with 12.974 million shares.
Rafhan Maize and Sapphire Fiber were the top gainers increasing by Rs 339.99 and Rs 79.19 respectively to close at Rs 10,000.00 and Rs 1,206.69 while Pak Services and Colgate Palmolive were the top losers declining by Rs 85.00 and Rs 64.99 respectively to close at Rs 1,270.00 and Rs 2,335.01.
Mubashir Anis Naviwala at JS Global Capital said that investors preferred to book profit as bourse remained under pressure throughout the day due to lack of positive triggers and rising political temperature.
The KSE-100 Index closed at 42,827, losing 444 points. Traded volume stood at 195 million shares where PRL (down 3.5 percent), KEL (down 2.3 percent), WTL (down 5.5 percent), CNERGY (down 3.3 percent) and UNITY (down 3.5 percent) were the highest contributors.
BR Automobile Assembler Index decreased by 51.82 points or 0.53 percent to close at 9,666.11 points with total turnover of 713,681 shares.
BR Cement Index declined by 74.11 points or 1.68 percent to close at 4,338.89 points with 10.982 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index fell by 104.22 points or 1.14 percent to close at 9,067.37 points with 16.852 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index lost 35.3 points or 0.59 percent to close at 5,946.99 points with 24.844 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index inched down by 28.2 points or 0.7 percent to close at 3,987.92 points with 20.174 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 3,749.09 points, down 65.68 points or 1.72 percent with 26.725 million shares.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market witnessed a negative session ahead of announcement of Monetary Policy Statement by the State Bank of Pakistan.
PSX continued to remain under pressure throughout the day due to concern regarding political noise. Investors opted to remain sideways waiting for the monetary policy announcement. Main board volumes remained dry whereas hefty volumes were observed in the 3rd-tier stocks. Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (down 103.7 points), Cement (down 50.6 points), Technology (down 46.1 points), Misc. (down 45.9 points) and E&P (down 31.2 points).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022