KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday remained under selling pressure and closed in deep red as investors opted to book profit in various sectors.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index plunged by 925.35 points or 1.40 percent and closed below 66,000 level at 65,204.68 points. The index hit 66,586.62 points intraday high and 65,064.94 points intraday low.

The daily trading volumes on ready counter increased to 1.890 billion shares as compared to 1.741 billion shares traded on last Friday however total daily traded value on the ready counter declined to Rs 24.595 billion against previous session’s Rs 29.976 billion.

BRIndex100 decreased by 97.33 points or 1.43 percent to close at 6,724.77 points with total daily turnover of 1.692 billion shares.

BRIndex30 declined by 257.89 points or 1.04 percent to close at 24,490.64 points with total daily trading volumes of 1.405 billion shares.

The market capitalization declined by Rs 88 billion to Rs 9.455 trillion. Out of total 381 active scrips, 264 closed in negative and 107 in positive while the value of 10 stocks remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 444.141 million shares and gained Rs 0.08 to close at Rs 1.90 followed by K-Electric that increased by Rs 0.59 to close at Rs 5.83 with 392.747 million shares. Cnergyico PK inched up by Rs 0.15 to close at Rs 5.90 with 205.409 million shares.

Hoechst Pakistan and Mehmood Textile Mills were the top gainers increasing by Rs 49.00 and Rs 25.00 respectively to close at Rs 1249.00 and Rs 525.00 while Rafhan Maize Products Company and Sapphire Fibres were the top losers declining by Rs 250.00 and Rs 142.50 respectively to close at Rs 9750.00 and Rs 1757.50.

In the trading session, a profit-taking trend was evident, resulting in a decline of more than 925 points and causing the index to close at 65,204, reflecting a 1.40 percent decrease, an analyst at Topline Securities said.

Throughout the trading day, the index experienced fluctuations within a range of 1,521 points, reaching an intraday high of 66,586 and a low of 65,064 points.

Negative contributions during trading hours came from stocks in the E&P, Fertilizer, and Banks sectors, where companies like PPL, MEBL, ENGRO, OGDC, and FFC collectively incurred a loss of 281 points. On the positive side, stocks such as KEL, PTC, and PSEL contributed to a combined gain of 80 points.

BR Automobile Assembler Index inched up by 1.58 points or 0.01 percent to close at 14,509.67 points with total turnover of 8.431 million shares.

BR Cement Index decreased by 76.72 points or 1.1 percent to close at 6,918.36 points with 30.650 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index declined by 273.65 points or 1.73 percent to close at 15,575.92 points with 125.724 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index gained 25.56 points or 0.17 percent to close at 14,742.72 points with 406.418 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index plunged by 122.11 points or 1.91 percent to close at 6,258.75 points with 154.769 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 4,288.67, down 13.14 points or 0.31 percent with 561.498 million shares.

Mubashir Anis Naviwala at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 index experienced widespread profit-taking. The index went up to an intraday high of 66,587 points eventually closing at 65,205, losing 925 points.

Traded volume stood at 1,890 million shares where WTL (up 4.4 percent), KEL (up 11 percent), CNERGY (up 2.6 percent), HASCOL (down 4.9 percent) and COP (up 0.7 percent) were the volume leaders.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023