KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Wednesday witnessed a mixed trend and after moving in both directions, closed in negative zone as the investors opted to book profit on available margins.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index hit 77,800.04 points intraday high and 77,086.82 points intraday low before closing at 77,114.49 points, down 76.85 points or 0.10 percent.

Trading activity remained low as daily volumes on ready counter declined to 447.531 million shares as compared to 600.896 million shares traded on Tuesday, however daily traded value on the ready counter increased to Rs 18.388 billion against previous session’s Rs 17.127 billion.

BRIndex100 lost 19.97 points or 0.24 percent to close at 8,186.00 points with total daily turnover of 377.034 million shares.

BRIndex30 decreased by 44.81 points or 0.18 percent to close at 25,335.87 points with total daily trading volumes of 225.314 million shares.

Foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $123,061. The market capitalization increased by Rs 18 billion to Rs 10.303 trillion. Out of total 440 active scrips, 231 closed in positive and 160 in negative while the value of 49 stocks remained unchanged.

Kohinoor Spining was the volume leader with 70.040 million shares however lost Rs 0.26 to close at Rs 5.84 followed by Power Cement that gained Rs 0.08 to close at Rs 4.98 with 28.783 million shares. Pak Int. Bulk Terminal inched down by Rs 0.25 to close at Rs 5.36 with 20.895 million shares.

Unilever Pakistan Foods and Exide Pakistan were the top gainers increasing by Rs 114.06 and Rs 89.65 respectively to close at Rs 17,799.06 and Rs 986.17 while Nestle Pakistan and Reliance Cotton Spinning Mills were the top losers declining by Rs 85.22 and Rs 60.38 respectively to close at Rs 6,911.99 and Rs 590.45.

An analyst at Topline Securities said Pakistan equities moved in both directions as bullish and bearish forces confronted throughout the session to take the helm at PSX. However, bears emerged as a winner as the KSE-100 Index called the day at 77,115 levels (down 77 points or 0.10 percent).

Investors chose to do switching between selective stocks of Power, Energy, Fertilizer, Auto, Tech and Cement sectors. Resultantly, BAHL, EFERT, FFC, UBL and PPL lost 263 points, cumulatively.

BR Automobile Assembler Index surged by 198.18 points or 1.06 percent to close at 18,821.17 points with total turnover of 20.288 million shares.

BR Cement Index added 45.5 points or 0.63 percent to close at 7,272.49 points with 55.676 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index declined by 93.37 points or 0.43 percent to close at 21,766.56 points with 33.840 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index gained 24.58 points or 0.14 percent to close at 17,839.72 points with 13.498 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index inched up by 24.33 points or 0.37 percent to close at 6,571.69 points with 22.757 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index increased by 42.26 points or 1.08 percent to close at 3,964.96 points with 52.089 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed lower on economic uncertainty.

He said falling Pak rupee, delays on privatisation of SOEs, concerns for $15 billion unsettled China IPPs debt, and falling banking spreads played a catalyst role in bearish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024