KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Tuesday witnessed a mixed trend as investors remained cautious and avoided taking fresh positions.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index hit 66,959.55 points intraday high and 66,573.63 points intraday low before closing at 66,886.26 points, up 89.94 points or 0.13 percent.

The daily trading volumes on ready counter stood at 239.650 million shares as compared to 238.829 million shares traded on Monday. The daily traded value on the ready counter slightly increased to Rs 8.940 billion against previous session’s Rs 8.365 billion.

BRIndex100 lost 6.68 points or 0.1 percent to close at 6,902.79 points with daily turnover of 198.719 million shares.

BRIndex30 decreased by 149.11 points or 0.66 percent to close at 22,301.76 points with daily trading volumes of 128.399 million shares.

Foreign investors remained net buyers of shares worth $422,339. The market capitalization declined by Rs 14 billion to stand at Rs 9.392 trillion. Out of total 342 active scrips, 160 closed in positive and 153 in negative while the value of 29 stocks remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 32.343 million shares and gained Rs 0.05 to close at Rs 1.35 followed by P.T.C.L. that lost Rs 0.48 to close at Rs 16.46 with 27.131 million shares. Pak Reinsurance closed at Rs 15.46, down Rs 0.48 with 13.127 million shares.

Hallmark Company Limited and Pakistan Services Limited were the top gainers increasing by Rs 39.60 and Rs 34.50 respectively to close at Rs 576.07 and Rs 974.50 while Pakistan Tobacco Company and Abbott Laboratories Pakistan were the top losers declining by Rs 47.85 and Rs 23.22 respectively to close at Rs 1,075.10 and Rs 455.56.

“A volatile session ended the day with the KSE-100 Index gaining 90 points to close at 66,886,” Muhammad Shuja Qureshi at JS Global Capital said.

Investor interest in the Auto Sector continued with DFML closing limit up for the second consecutive day while GAL also closed at its upper circuit. Select buying was witnessed in LUCK, SYS, BIPL, PABC, and CSAP.

BR Automobile Assembler Index increased by 114.84 points or 0.73 percent to close at 15,823.91 points with total turnover of 13.100 million shares.

BR Cement Index inched down by 1.93 points or 0.03 percent to close at 6,452.51 points with 14.268 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index added 106.49 points or 0.61 percent to close at 17,514.12 points with 22.189 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index decreased by 80.42 points or 0.54 percent to close at 14,755.11 points with 7.974 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index fell by 36.49 points or 0.6 percent to close at 6,013.45 points with 10.598 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index surged by 45.94 points or 1.26 percent to close at 3,695.30 points with 77.174 million shares.

An analyst at Topline Securities said Pakistan equities kicked off the day on a positive note as the KSE-100 Index made an intraday high at 66,960 level (plus 163 points; up 0.24 percent) in the morning.

However, at the day’s high, profit taking initiated. Resultantly, the benchmark KSE-100 Index could not penetrate into 67,000 territory and called the day at 66,886 levels (up 90 points).

Aforesaid market behavior can be accredited to investors’ approach to remain sidelined ahead of Eid holidays scheduled for next week and absence of any trigger which may influence market direction.

Even on Monday’s CPI of 20.68 percent (a lowest inflation number after 21 months, from a peak of 37.97 percent, in May 2023) could not lure investors’ interest.

Consequently, the day’s positive and negative contributors were DAWH, SYS, FFC, MCB BAFL and HUBC, PPL, EFERT, PAKT, MARI as they added 202 and lost 110 points, respectively.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024