KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Wednesday witnessed a mixed trend and after moving in both directions, closed on a negative note as investors opted to offload their holdings.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index hit 75,513.90 points intraday high and 74,835.49 points intraday low before closing at 74,956.67 points, down 250.10 points or 0.33 percent.

The daily trading volumes on ready counter increased to 584.484 million shares as compared to 462.304 million shares traded on Tuesday. The daily traded value on the ready counter increased to Rs 17.714 billion against previous session’s Rs 15.871 billion.

BRIndex100 lost 40.29 points or 0.51 percent to close at 7,810.24 points with total daily turnover of 489.907 million shares.

BRIndex30 declined by 186.42 points or 0.74 percent to close at 25,150.11 points with total daily trading volumes of 284.459 million shares.

Foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $443,144. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 58 billion to Rs 10.106 trillion. Out of total 393 active scrips, 236 closed in negative and 132 in positive while the value of 25 stocks remained unchanged.

Hum Network was the volume leader with 71.273 million shares and gained Rs 0.13 to close at Rs 12.03 followed by Pace (Pak) Limited that increased by Rs 1.00 to close at Rs 4.32 with 46.645 million shares. K-Electric lost Rs 0.13 to close at Rs 4.71 with 34.484 million shares.

Ismail Industries and Shahmurad Sugar Mills were the top gainers increasing by Rs 71.61 and Rs 21.23 respectively to close at Rs 1,700.00 and Rs 588.58 while Unilever Pakistan Foods and Nestle Pakistan were the top losers declining by Rs 139.76 and Rs 121.28 respectively to close at Rs 18,415.56 and Rs 7,200.00.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that Pakistan equities kicked off the day with the KSE-100 Index horsing around 75,000 psychological level by and large throughout the trading hours. However in the last hour of the session, an inexplicable selling spree threw the benchmark KSE-100 index below 75,000 zone to concede the day at 74,997 levels (down 250 points or 0.33 percent).

The confounded market behavior can be ascribed to absence of any positive trigger which can assist market to keep on its off late north bound journey. Vibes from negotiations between Pakistan Government and IMF and anticipation of further austerity measures in the upcoming budget kept the investors at the bay as they opted to do some profit taking above 75,000 level.

Consequently, Banks, Fertilizer, Technology and Auto sectors contributed negatively where MCB, ENGRO, THALL, BAHL and TRG lost 185 points. On the contrary, SYS, FFC and PGKP cumulatively added 125 points due to some buying interest observed in them.

BR Automobile Assembler Index plunged by 241.9 points or 1.46 percent to close at 16,280.08 points with total turnover of 13.998 million shares.

BR Cement Index declined by 80.2 points or 1.06 percent to close at 7,474.98 points with 49.172 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index decreased by 57.95 points or 0.29 percent to close at 20,081.64 points with 27.192 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index increased by 226.55 points or 1.32 percent to close at 17,332.84 points with 58.966 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index lost 37.65 points or 0.55 percent to close at 6,753.58 points with 19.695 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index gained 29.82 points or 0.76 percent to close at 3,977.52 points with 186.236 million shares.

Mohammed Waqar Iqbal at JS Global Capital said the market opened on a positive note, but investors chose to book profits, leading the KSE-100 Index to close down 250 points at 74,956 after reaching a high of 75,514 points.

Traded volume stood at 584 million shares where HUMNL (up 1.1 percent), PACE (up 30 percent), KEL (down 2.7 percent), SYS (up 20 percent) and WTL (up 1.5 percent) were the volume leaders.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024