KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday witnessed mixed trend and after moving both ways, closed on a negative note due to selling in some stocks during second half of the trading session.

The session started on strong positive note and the benchmark KSE-100 Index crossed 49,000 psychological level to hit 49,034.92 points intraday high, however selling in some stocks pushed the index into negative zone hitting 48,276.54 points intra-day low. The index closed at 48,386.25 points, down 199.47 points or 0.41 percent.

Trading activity however improved as total daily volumes on ready counter increased to 381.855 million shares as compared to 331.132 million shares traded last Friday. The daily traded value on the ready counter increased to 14.528 billion against previous session’s Rs 12.500 billion.

BRIndex100 decreased by 28.45 points or 0.58 percent to close at 4,917.92 points with daily turnover of 345.022 million shares.

BRIndex30 declined by 190.48 points or 1.07 percent to close at 17,681.73 points with total daily trading volumes of 252.252 million shares.

Foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $1.290 million. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 33 billion to Rs 7.257 trillion. Out of total 354 active scrips, 225 closed in negative and 104 in positive while the value of 25 stocks remained unchanged.

Cnergyico PK was the volume leader with 74.504 million shares however inched down by Rs 0.15 to close at Rs 3.80 followed by Pak Refinery that lost Rs 0.57 to close at Rs 18.01 with 35.710 million shares. OGDC declined by Rs 2.09 to close at Rs 105.57 with 26.010 million shares.

Nestle Pakistan and Mari Petroleum were the top gainers increasing by Rs 91.67 and Rs 65.62 respectively to close at Rs 7070.00 and Rs 1705.63 while Philip Morris Pak and Al-Abbas Sugar were the top losers declining by Rs 29.99 and Rs 22.00 respectively to close at Rs 399.01 and Rs 450.10.

Muhammad Waqar Iqbal at JS Global Capital said the KSE-100 Index witnessed a volatile session eventually closing at the level of 48,386, down 199 points. Selling pressure was witnessed in the E&P sector and it closed in the negative region.

Investors anxiously awaited the government’s decision on refinery policy and circular debt payments during the day.

BR Automobile Assembler Index plunged by 219.26 points or 2.37 percent to close at 9,022.51 points with total turnover of 5.017 million shares.

BR Cement Index lost 12.39 points or 0.24 percent to close at 5,134.52 points with 9.833 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index inched down by 2.04 points or 0.02 percent to close at 11,333.22 points with 49.913 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index declined by 79.15 points or 0.88 percent to close at 8,942.36 points with 27.182 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index decreased by 29.31 points or 0.64 percent to close at 4,560.96 points with 56.354 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index fell by 33.15 points or 0.82 percent to close at 3,994.32 points with 28.797 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that stocks closed lower on investor concerns for political noise amid appointment of caretaker setup and weak Pak rupee.

He said dismal data on oil sales, export and fertilizers for July 2023 and slump in global crude oil prices played a catalyst role in bearish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023