KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday witnessed a volatile session and after moving in both directions, closed on a negative note as the investors opted to book profit on available margins.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index hit 80,627.49 points intraday high and 80,080.25 points intraday low, before closing at 80,212.79 points, down 70.01 points or 0.09 percent from previous session’s closing level.

Trading activity also remained low as daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 448.981 million shares as compared to 496.782 million shares traded on Thursday. The daily traded value on the ready counter declined to Rs 19.328 billion against previous session’s Rs 10.594 billion.

BRIndex100 inched down by 0.51 points or 0.01 percent to close at 8,495.60 points with total daily turnover of 354.096 million shares.

BRIndex30 lost 87.77 points or 0.32 percent to close at 27,201.93 points with total daily trading volumes of 183.253 million shares.

The market capitalization declined by Rs 18 billion to Rs 10.594 trillion. Out of total 432 active scrips, 229 closed in negative and 152 in positive while the value of 51 stocks remained unchanged.

Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 34.409 million shares and gained Rs 0.17 to close at Rs 5.70 followed by National Bank of Pakistan that surged by Rs 3.86 to close at Rs 46.91 with 28.497 million shares. PIA Holding Company increased by Rs 1.44 to close at Rs 19.90 with 25.106 million shares.

Rafhan Maize Products Company and Sazgar Engineering Works were the top gainers increasing by Rs 108.11 and Rs 65.1, respectively to close at Rs 7,649.75 and Rs 914.91 while Hoechst Pakistan and Unilever Pakistan Foods were the top losers declining by Rs 140.00 and Rs 86.13 respectively to close at Rs 1,460.00 and Rs 18,172.51.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that a volatile session was observed at the exchange as the index traded between its intraday high of plus 345 points and intraday low of minus 70 points to settle at 80,213 level, down by 0.09 percent.

This volatility can be attributed to consolidation around psychological index level of 80,000 after recent rally in the market. Investor interest was observed in mid-cap banks as major positive contribution to the index came from HBL, BAHL, NBP, HMB and AKBL, where they cumulatively contributed 333 points to the index. On the flip side OGDC, HUBC, MCB, MEBL and BAFL lost value to weigh down on the index by 172 points.

BR Automobile Assembler Index surged by 216.21 points or 1.27 percent to close at 17,197.60 points with total turnover of 8.927 million shares.

BR Cement Index declined by 76.03 points or 0.96 percent to close at 7,846.99 points with 15.381 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index increased by 285.58 points or 1.25 percent to close at 23,114.32 points with 131.703 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index decreased by 92.18 points or 0.46 percent to close at 19,806.45 points with 20.462 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index fell by 66.51 points or 0.98 percent to close at 6,737.80 points with 25.605 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 3,978.27 points, down 36.83 points or 0.92 percent with 66.049 million shares.

Mubashir Anis Naviwala at JS Global Capital said lackluster activities continued at PSX as investors preferred to book profits at higher levels.

Bulls dominated the market for the most part during the week with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 1,768 points during the period.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024