KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Wednesday remained under pressure and closed on a negative note with low trading activity.

The market opened on a positive note, however it failed to continue this momentum due to selling in various sectors. The benchmark KSE-100 Index crossed 43,000 psychological level during the session to hit 43,037.77 points intraday high, however it failed to continue this momentum and dropped in negative zone hitting 42,787.77 points intraday low. The KSE-100 Index closed at 42,880.31 points, down 48.32 points or 0.11 percent.

Trading activity remained very thin as daily volumes on the ready counter decreased to 138.573 million shares as compared to 195.973 million shares traded on Tuesday while total daily traded value on ready counter declined to Rs 5.140 billion against previous session’s Rs 6.789 billion. BRIndex100 lost 4.27 points or 0.1 percent to close at 4,325.94 points with total daily turnover of 118.458 million shares.

BRIndex30 inched down by 10.38 points or 0.06 percent to close at 16,247.43 points with total daily trading volumes of 76.831 million shares.

Foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $306,639. The market capitalization declined by Rs 5 billion to Rs 6.831 trillion. Out of total 356 active scrips, 191 closed in negative and 144 in positive while the value of 21 stocks remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 16.467 million shares and closed at Rs 1.38, down Rs 0.01 followed by TPL Properties that lost Rs 0.26 to close at Rs 19.89 with 13.106 million shares. Hub Power Co declined by Rs 2.51 to close at Rs 66.62 with 12.462 million shares.

Allawasaya Textile and Sapphire Fiber were the top gainers increasing by Rs 194.99 and Rs 77.00 respectively to close at Rs 2794.87 and Rs 1217.01 while Bata Pak and Bhanero Textile were the top losers declining by Rs 80.00 and Rs 71.98 respectively to close at Rs 1800.00 and Rs 928.02.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that Pakistan equities closed slight negative where benchmark KSE-100 Index settled at 42,880 level, down 0.11 percent.

Continuing its Tuesday positive momentum market kicked off on a positive note making an intraday high of plus 111 points. However profit taking was witnessed soon after HUBC notification, where the company notified the exchanged that HUBC as a Joint Venture and sponsor of CPHGC provided security in the form of Standby Letter of Credit (SBLC) - which is a form of guarantee - of $150 million in favor of CPHGC to satisfy any funding shortfall. This SBLC was to expire on November 23, 2022. If the SBLC is not renewed 15 days prior to the expiry which is the case now, CPHGC’s lender shall have the right to call upon the SBLC, which led the HUBC to close 3.63 percent down.

BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 39.78 points or 0.45 percent to close at 8,918.77 points with total turnover of 1.600 million shares.

BR Cement Index lost 15.01 points or 0.33 percent to close at 4,484.47 points with 3.779 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index fell by 8.8 points or 0.1 percent to close at 8,489.45 points with 18.943 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index declined by 161.59 points or 2.33 percent to close at 6,761.43 points with 18.247 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index inched up by 7.52 points or 0.19 percent to close at 3,893.15 points with 11.551 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index increased by 78.21 points or 1.62 percent to close at 4,909.27 points with 31.192 million shares.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that a rangebound session was witnessed at the PSX. The market opened in positive zone but lack of investors’ participation plunged the index down into the red and continued to trade in the same zone for most of the trading session. The market participation was comparatively lower than the previous session as volumes remained dry in the main board however, decent volumes were recorded in the 3rd tier stocks. Sectors contributing to the performance include Power Generation and Distribution (down 65.8 points), Commercial Banks (down 19.8 points), Miscellaneous (down 18.5 points), Cement (down 10.9 points) and Tobacco (down 10.0 points).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022