KARACHI: After positive opening, Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday witnessed selling pressure that forced the share market to close on negative note as the investors opted to book profit on the last day of the rollover week.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index hit 67,307.63 points intraday high and 66,822.43 points intraday low, before closing at 67,005.11 points, down 137.02 points or 0.20 percent.

Trading activity also remained low as the daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 313.035 million shares as compared to 421.118 million shares traded on Thursday while total daily traded value on the ready counter declined to Rs 9.899 billion against previous session’s Rs 16.159 billion.

BRIndex100 lost 24.43 points or 0.35 percent to close at 6,919.23 points with total daily turnover of 273.353 million shares.

BRIndex30 declined by 243.13 points or 1.07 percent to close at 22,583.98 points with total daily trading volumes of 193.913 million shares.

Foreign investors also remained net sellers of shares worth $231,018. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 17 billion to Rs 9.447 trillion. Out of total 343 active scrips, 188 closed in negative and 136 in positive while the value of 19 stocks remained unchanged.

P.I.A.C. (A) was the volume leader with 39.192 million shares and increased by Rs 2.20 to close at Rs 31.54 followed by P.T.C.L. that lost Rs 0.15 to close at Rs 18.27 with 32.214 million shares. Cnergyico PK closed at Rs 4.42, down Rs 0.14 with 18.949 million shares.

Hoechst Pakistan Limited and Pakistan Tobacco Company were the top gainers increasing by Rs 70.00 and Rs 42.95 respectively to close at Rs 1,300.00 and Rs 1,122.95 while JDW Sugar Mills and Mehmood Textile Mills were the top losers declining by Rs 15.50 and Rs 10.97 respectively to close at Rs 452.00 and Rs 383.03.

An analyst at Topline Securities said rangebound session was observed at the exchange as the index traded between its intraday high of plus 166 points and intraday low of minus 320 points to finally close at 67,005 level (down by 0.2 percent).

Major positive contribution to the index came from MEBL, ENGRO, MCB, PAKT and COLG, as they cumulatively contributed 515 points. On the flip side FFC, BAFL, OGDC, TRG and HUBC lost value to weigh down on the index by 451 points.

BR Automobile Assembler Index inched down by 21.47 points or 0.14 percent to close at 15,628.05 points with total turnover of 2.691 million shares.

BR Cement Index lost 26.12 points or 0.4 percent to close at 6,507.91 points with 10.250 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index gained 20.59 points or 0.12 percent to close at 17,360.42 points with 22.510 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index declined by 118.99 points or 0.8 percent to close at 14,749.05 points with 19.049 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index decreased by 33.83 points or 0.55 percent to close at 6,098.29 points with 17.350 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index fell by 52.07 points or 1.39 percent to close at 3,701.44 points with 60.821 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed lower amid institutional profit taking after GDP posts 1.0 percent dismal growth in the second quarter of FY24 and Nepra approval to raise industrial power tariff under QTA.

The FM hints at cut in PSDP, economic measures for energy sector reforms ahead of Pak-IMF talks on April 14-15 and surging Government treasury bond yields played a catalyst role in bearish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024