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

The benchmark KSE-100 Index crossed 46,000 psychological level to hit 46,035.81 points intraday high, however failed to sustain this trend and dropped in negative zone to hit 45,703.53 points intraday low before closing at 45,757.24 points, down 50.34 points or 0.11 percent.

Trading activity improved as daily volumes on ready counter increased to 177.062 million shares as compared to 139.710 million shares traded on Wednesday. The daily traded value on ready counter increased to Rs 7.581 billion against previous session’s Rs 4.813 billion.

BRIndex100 lost 13.61 points or 0.3 percent to close at 4,572.67 points with total daily turnover of 159.680 million shares.

BRIndex30 fell by 54.92 points or 0.34 percent to close at 16,096.69 points with total daily trading volumes of 97.849 million shares.

Foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $375,484. The market capitalization increased by Rs 9 billion to Rs 6.789 trillion. Out of total 323 active scrips, 162 closed in negative and 139 in positive while the value of 22 stocks remained unchanged.

PPL was the volume leader with 13.140 million shares and increased by Rs 1.29 to close at Rs 69.98 followed by WorldCall Telecom that closed at Rs 1.15, down Rs 0.01 with 10.994 million shares. Kot Addu Power gained Rs 0.36 to close at Rs 25.97 with 10.981 million shares.

Pak Tobacco and Reliance Cotton were the top gainers increasing by Rs 37.00 and Rs 36.75 respectively to close at Rs 707.00 and Rs 526.75 while Lucky Cement and Khyber Tobacco were the top losers declining by Rs 15.04 and Rs 11.61 respectively to close at Rs 538.47 and Rs 344.38.

An analyst at Topline Securities said Pakistan equities settled at 45,757, 50 points or 0.11 percent after having a rangebound day. During the trading hours, the benchmark KSE-100 Index moved in narrow range of 332 points (plus 228 and minus 104 points).

The market sentiment was directionless on the back of a day earlier T-bills auction where massive increase in (162bps in 3mth and 213bps in one year) cutoff yields have been witnessed, indicating an increase of 1-2 percent in interest rates in the upcoming Monetary Policy, scheduled on September 14, 2023.

Banks, Cement and Technology sectors contributed negatively to the index as LUCK, UBL, BAFL, BAHL and SYS lost 134 points, cumulatively. On the flip side, DAWH, PPL and PSO gained 99 points due to some buying interest in them.

BR Automobile Assembler Index lost 14.8 points or 0.16 percent to close at 8,990.74 points with total turnover of 11.068 million shares.

BR Cement Index declined by 84.5 points or 1.82 percent to close at 4,548.18 points with 15.557 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index decreased by 80.44 points or 0.74 percent to close at 10,760.15 points with 12.791 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index inched down by 25.91 points or 0.3 percent to close at 8,669.96 points with 20.850 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index gained 35.58 points or 0.84 percent to close at 4,282.88 points with 38.454 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index fell by 31.99 points or 0.85 percent to close at 3,716.09 points with 18.570 million shares.

Mubashir Anis Naviwala at JS Global Capital said the market experienced a rangebound session as the KSE-100 Index ended the day at 45,757, recording a 50-point decline. Good participation was seen in OGDC and PPL due to expectations of a gas price hike.

Traded volume stood at 177 million shares where PPL (up 1.9 percent), WTL (down 0.9 percent), KAPCO (up 1.4 percent), MLCF (down 0.8 percent) and OGDC (zero percent) were the volume leaders.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023