KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed a bearish trend on the second consecutive day due to selling pressure on Friday following investor concern over prevailing political and economic situation in the country.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index plunged by 439.82 points or 0.56 percent to close at 78,029.51 points. The index hit 78,569.89 points intraday high and 77,921.48 points intraday low.

Trading activity also remained low as daily volumes on ready counter declined to 278.327 million shares as compared to 327.279 million shares traded on Thursday. The daily traded value on the ready counter declined to Rs 11.621 billion against previous session’s Rs 15.283 billion.

BRIndex100 decreased by 61.31 points or 0.74 percent to close at 8,233.36 points with daily turnover of 217.474 million shares.

BRIndex30 declined by 266.89 points or 1.02 percent to close at 25,834.64 points with total daily trading volumes of 138.478 million shares.

Foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $618,850. The market capitalization declined by Rs 69 to Rs 10.388 trillion. Out of total 429 active scrips, 255 closed in negative and 114 in positive while the value of 60 stocks remained unchanged.

K-Electric was the volume leader with 15.218 million shares however lost Rs 0.08 to close at Rs 4.27 followed by SNGPL that declined by Rs 2.63 to close at Rs 69.98 with 14.833 million shares. WorldCall Telecom closed at Rs 1.16, down Rs 0.02 with 14.224 million shares.

PIA Holding Company LimitedB and Rafhan Maize Products Company were the top gainers increasing by Rs 54.21 and Rs 22.57, respectively to close at Rs 952.21 and Rs 7,598.99 while Nestle Pakistan and Sazgar Engineering Works were the top losers declining by Rs 56.96 and Rs 38.03, respectively to close at Rs 6,900.00 and Rs 1,043.28.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that a rangebound session was observed as investors preferred to remain on sidelines before the monetary policy meeting on Monday, June 29.

Major positive contribution to the index came from BAHL, BAFL, UBL, HUBC and PAKT as they cumulatively contributed plus 216 points. On the other hand HBL, OGDC, MEBL, PSO and SYS lost value to weigh down on the index by negative 258 points.

BR Automobile Assembler Index declined by 147.63 points or 0.81 percent to close at 18,050.90 points with total turnover of 12.260 million shares.

BR Cement Index lost 20.47 points or 0.26 percent to close at 7,723.07 points with 16.863 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index inched down by 30.86 points or 0.14 percent to close at 22,379.72 points with 22.251 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index fell by 28.29 points or 0.16 percent to close at 18,018.09 points with 26.056 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index plunged by 89.59 points or 1.34 percent to close at 6,606.79 points with 32.412 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index decreased by 60.86 points or 1.5 percent to close at 3,997.32 points with 36.135 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed lower amid investor worries over economic and political uncertainty.

He said weak global equities, falling FX reserves, uncertainty over terms of re profiling China energy debt and ongoing political noise amid surge in taxes, power bills played a catalytic role in bearish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024