KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Tuesday witnessed a mixed trend and after moving in both directions, closed on a negative note.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index declined by 102.87 points or 0.13 percent and closed at 77,877.42 points. The index hit 78,275.97 points intraday high and 77,817.33 points intraday low.

The daily trading volumes on ready counter increased to 604.144 million shares as compared to 415.170 million shares traded on Monday while total daily traded value on the ready counter declined to Rs 19.981 billion against previous session’s Rs 22.242 billion.

BRIndex100 lost 26.17 points or 0.32 percent to close at 8,187.78 points with total daily turnover of 456.900 million shares.

BRIndex30 decreased by 111.84 points or 0.43 percent to close at 25,653.41 points with total daily trading volumes of 282.351 million shares.

Foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $222,260. The market capitalization increased by Rs 13 billion to Rs 10.402 trillion. Out of total 443 active scrips, 211 closed in negative and 183 in positive while the value of 49 stocks remained unchanged.

Kohinoor Spining was the volume leader with 131.917 million shares and gained Rs 0.68 to close at Rs 8.32 followed by Yousuf Weaving that inched up by Rs 0.29 to close at Rs 5.63 with 89.200 million shares. Hascol Petroleum closed at Rs 6.79, up Rs 0.27 with 47.802 million shares.

Mari Petroleum Company and Hoechst Pakistan were the top gainers increasing by Rs 129.00 and Rs 91.27 respectively to close at Rs 3,395.80 and Rs 1,599.99 while Unilever Pakistan Foods and Khyber Textile Mills were the top losers declining by Rs 322.99 and Rs 54.45 respectively to close at Rs 17,620.00 and Rs 569.19.

An analyst at Topline Securities said Pakistan equities had a mixed day where bullish and bearish forces fought whole day to grab the rein of market momentum and eventually bears had the day on their name as the KSE-100 Index settled the day at 77,877 level (down 103 points or 0.13 percent).

The day started on a positive note initially. However, investors chose to do some profit-taking which compelled the benchmark index to go into negative territory where the benchmark index made an intraday low at 77,817 (down 163 points). Nonetheless, value hunters rescued the market at day’s low which ultimately led the index to gain 60 point lost earlier.

During the day, Power, Fertilizer and Auto sector’s stocks contributed negatively as HUBC, FFC, MTL, THALL and EFERT lost 157 points. On the other hand, some stocks like MARI, LUCK and JVDC experienced some buying interest, resulting in a combined positive contribution of 147 points.

BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 25.3 points or 0.14 percent to close at 18,457.48 points with total turnover of 12.913 million shares.

BR Cement Index lost 4.43 points or 0.06 percent to close at 7,286.06 points with 19.063 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index decreased by 44.96 points or 0.2 percent to close at 22,016.49 points with 9.333 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index declined by 247.51 points or 1.38 percent to close at 17,714.59 points with 28.940 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index increased by 64.02 points or 0.92 percent to close at 7,058.39 points with 57.499 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index added 36.34 points or 0.91 percent to close at 4,049.04 points with 82.641 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed lower amid political noise.

He said uncertainty over the IMF approval for proposed closure of IPPs and cut in PSDP, geopolitical uncertainty, weak rupee and dismal data for auto sales falling by 36 percent MoM in July 2024 played a catalyst role in bearish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024