KARACHI: A bearish trend continued on Pakistan Stock Exchange on Wednesday due to selling pressure as investors remained cautious on concerns over higher tax measures on capital market in the budget and fears of further curbs in the next IMF program. The benchmark KSE-100 Index plunged by 447.22 points or 0.60 percent and closed at 74,219.44 points. The index hit 74,758.11 points intraday high and 74,136.52 points intraday low.

Trading activity also remained low as daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 348.549 million shares as compared to 414.479 million shares traded on Tuesday. The daily traded value on the ready counter declined to Rs 16.389 billion against Tuesday’s Rs 18.311 billion.

BRIndex100 decreased by 61.61 points or 0.79 percent to close at 7,773.15 points with daily turnover of 280.184 million shares.

BRIndex30 declined by 281.16 points or 1.11 percent to close at 24,963.38 points with daily trading volumes of 167.261 million shares.

Foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $613,720. The market capitalization declined by Rs 55 billion to Rs 10.006 trillion. Out of total 441 active scrips, 246 closed in negative and 127 in positive while the value of 68 stocks remained unchanged.

K-Electric was the volume leader with 25.285 million shares and closed at Rs 4.86, down Rs 0.01 followed by Amtex Limited that increased by Rs 1.00 to close at Rs 3.56 with 23.587 million shares. WorldCall Telecom lost Rs 0.02 to close at Rs 1.32 with 16.062 million shares.

Exide Pakistan and Sazgar Engineering Works were the top gainers increasing by Rs 39.93 and Rs 27.95, respectively to close at Rs 539.06 and Rs 840.21 while Unilever Pakistan Foods and Hallmark Company were the top losers declining by Rs 115.03 and Rs 31.74, respectively to close at Rs 18,350.00 and Rs 420.14.

An analyst at Topline Securities said the negative trajectory was primarily influenced by weaknesses in the banking and exploration sectors companies such as HBL, OGDC, BAFL, BAHL, and PPL collectively contributed to a loss of 225 points. However, there were some positive movements from EFERT, FABL, and TRG, which collectively added 37 points to the index.

BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 27.96 points or 0.16 percent to close at 17,095.00 points with total turnover of 21.475 million shares.

BR Cement Index decreased by 53.82 points or 0.71 percent to close at 7,530.37 points with 30.279 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index plunged by 194.69 points or 0.97 percent to close at 19,914.68 points with 33.417 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index inched up by 11.03 points or 0.06 percent to close at 17,702.57 points with 30.541 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index declined by 64.43 points or 0.99 percent to close at 6,442.29 points with 19.948 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 4,012.08 points, down 24.33 points or 0.6 percent with 82.756 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks fell sharply lower amid ongoing rumours for higher tax measures on capital markets in the Federal Budget FY25 and uncertainty over SBP policy rates stance.

He said political noise, and dismal data on fertilizer offtake for May 2024 played a catalyst role in bearish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024