KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Tuesday witnessed mixed trend and after moving in both directions finally closed in deep red with heavy losses due to selling mainly by local investors.
The benchmark KSE-100 index plunged by 592.49 points or 0.83 percent and closed at 71,102.55 points. During the session, the index hit 72,119.66 points intra-day high, however this trend could not continue due to selling pressure that forced the index into negative zone to hit 71,059.63 points intra-day low level.
Trading activities also remained low as total daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 560.552 million shares as compared to 613.314 million shares traded on Monday, while total daily traded value on the ready counter declined to Rs 25.730 billion against previous session’s Rs 26.314 billion.
BRIndex100 decreased by 60.85 points or 0.81 percent to close at 7,461.08 points with total daily turnover of 496.129 million shares.
BRIndex30 declined by 230.9 points or 0.95 percent to close at 24,171.31 points with total daily trading volumes of 309.423 million shares.
The foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $2.967 million. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 125 billion to stand at Rs 9.746 billion. Out of total 384 active scrips, 244 closed in negative and 113 in positive while the value of 27 stocks remained unchanged.
WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 47.688 million shares however lost Re 0.05 to close at Rs 1.28 followed by Pace (Pak) Limited that inched down by Re 0.20 to close at Rs 3.29 with 27.121 million shares. PPL increased by Rs 2.86 to close at Rs 114.91 with 23.164 million shares.
Unilever Pakistan Foods and Al-Abbas Sugar Mills were the top gainers increasing by Rs 446.29 and Rs 43.53 respectively to close at Rs 20,000.00 and Rs 625.40 while Hallmark Company and Sapphire Fibres were the top losers declining by Rs 90.02 and Rs 69.12 respectively to close at Rs 1,149.12 and Rs 1,423.33.
“Range bound session was observed at the exchange where the market traded between its intraday high of plus 592 points and intraday low of minus 635 points to finally close at 71,103, down by 0.83 percent,” an analyst at Topline Securities said.
Pressure was observed during the latter part of the day as result announcements came in that depicted decline in earnings. Major positive contribution to the index came from PPL, BAHL, FFC, MTL and Kapco as they cumulatively contributed positive 134 points to the index; whereas SYS, UBL, TRG, DAWH and EFERT lost value to weigh down on the index by negative 309 points.
BR Automobile Assembler Index lost 13.69 points or 0.09 percent to close at 15,739.56 points with total turnover of 21.868 million shares.
BR Cement Index declined by 110.53 points or 1.55 percent to close at 7,031.30 points with 31.336 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index decreased by 119.27 points or 0.63 percent to close at 18,780.42 points with 39.322 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index fell by 68.65 points or 0.43 percent to close at 15,855.94 points with 30.623 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index gained 6.56 points or 0.1 percent to close at 6,490.58 points with 73.188 million shares.
BR Tech & Comm Index plunged by 171.43 points or 4.4 percent to close at 3,723.63 points with 117.733 million shares.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed bearish near close of earning season after SBP maintains tight monetary policy keeping key policy rate unchanged owing to inflation on geopolitical risks and pending fiscal measures.
He said IMF conditions to pursue structural reforms for energy sector, falling earnings in oil, cements and auto sectors played a catalyst role in bearish close.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024