KARACHI: A bearish trend continued on Pakistan Stock Exchange with low trading activity on Tuesday due to selling pressure as the investors opted to remain on the sideline or preferred to offload their holdings.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index declined by 357.33 points or 0.78 percent and closed at 45,508.40 points. The index hit 45,902.72 points intraday high and 45,468.27 points intraday low.
Trading activity remained thin as daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 126.341 million shares as compared to 213.198 million shares traded on Monday. The daily traded value on ready counter declined to Rs 4.987 billion against previous session’s Rs 8.194 billion.
BRIndex100 decreased by 36.14 points or 0.79 percent to close at 4,559.30 points with total daily turnover of 110.959 million shares.
BRIndex30 plunged by 162.02 points or 0.99 percent to close at 16,141.46 points with total daily trading volumes of 64.503 million shares.
Foreign investors also remained net sellers of shares worth $1.496 million. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 55 billion to Rs 6.759 trillion. Out of total 294 active scrips, 196 closed in negative and only 73 in positive while the value of 25 stocks remained unchanged.
Hub Power Co was the volume leader with 11.871 million shares and gained Rs 0.77 to close at Rs 82.02 followed by WorldCall Telecom that closed at Rs 1.14, down Rs 0.02 with 9.781 million shares. Treet Corp inched up by Rs 0.43 to close at Rs 16.41 with 7.144 million shares.
Reliance Cotton and Ibrahim Fibres were the top gainers increasing by Rs 40.50 and Rs 8.99 respectively to close at Rs 580.50 and Rs 259.99 while Unilever Foods and Mari Petroleum were the top losers declining by Rs 1573.00 and Rs 21.36 respectively to close at Rs 21255.00 and Rs 1591.46.
“It was a lackluster day for Pakistan’s equities market, characterized by mixed sentiments and notably low trading volumes,” an analyst at Topline Securities said. However, investors chose to take profits, resulting in the KSE-100 Index closing the day at 45,508, down by 357 points or 0.78 percent.
Banks, E&P, and cement sectors contributed negative points, with OGDC, MCB, DAWH, LUCK, and BAHL being the major laggards, collectively losing 181 points.
BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 16.07 points or 0.18 percent to close at 8,984.34 points with total turnover of 7.567 million shares.
BR Cement Index declined by 50.11 points or 1.1 percent to close at 4,497.67 points with 5.360 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index decreased by 67.3 points or 0.62 percent to close at 10,750.23 points with 18.639 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index inched up by 21.02 points or 0.24 percent to close at 8,786.03 points with 18.591 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index plunged by 71.65 points or 1.66 percent to close at 4,250.93 points with 14.404 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index fell by 32.33 points or 0.86 percent to close at 3,721.75 points with 15.063 million shares.
Mubashir Anis Naviwala at JS Global Capital said that selling pressure dragged the market down to the level of 45,468. Investor participation remained on the lower side.
Volumes during the day stood at 126 million shares versus 213 million shares traded previously. Top contributors were HUBC (up 0.9 percent), WTL (down 1.7 percent), TREET (up 2.7 percent), DFML (down 7.5 percent) and PIAA (down 9.7 percent).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023