KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday opened on a positive note, however failed to continue this trend and closed in red zone as the investors opted to book profit on available margins.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index hit 78,619.18 points intraday high and 78,041.08 points intraday low, before closing at 78,045.31 points down 60.67 points or 0.08 percent.

The daily trading volumes on ready counter increased to 600.719 million shares as compared to 591.065 million shares traded on Thursday. The daily traded value on the ready counter increased to Rs 21.071 billion against previous session’s Rs 20.102 billion.

BRIndex100 lost 28.28 points or 0.34 percent to close at 8,186.56 points with daily turnover of 472.825 million shares.

BRIndex30 inched down by 51.64 points or 0.2 percent to close at 25,631.60 points with total daily trading volumes of 279.434 million shares.

The market capitalization declined by Rs 50 billion to Rs 10.398 trillion. Out of total 440 active scrips, 220 closed in negative and 170 in positive while the value of 50 stocks remained unchanged.

Kohinoor Spining was the volume leader with 109.495 million shares and increased by Rs 0.96 to close at Rs 10.28 followed by Yousuf Weaving that gained Rs 0.38 to close at Rs 6.87 with 70.094 million shares. PTCL lost Rs 0.15 to close at Rs 12.42 with 21.231 million shares.

Unilever Pakistan Foods and Hoechst Pakistan were the top gainers increasing by Rs 358.81 and Rs 60.29 respectively to close at Rs 17,959.81 and Rs 1,660.29 while Exide Pakistan and Sazgar Engineering Works were the top losers declining by Rs 83.58 and Rs 56.82 respectively to close at Rs 929.72 and Rs 1,028.57.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that the KSE-100 Index largely traded in positive during the day, however some pressure was observed at the latter hours of trade as investors came in to book their gains.

Major positive contribution to the index came from UPFL, HPL, PECO, ISIL and NESTLE, as they cumulatively contributed plus 534 points to the index. On the other hand SAPT, EXIDE, KHYT, SAZEW and RCML lost value to weigh down on the index by minus 330 points.

BR Automobile Assembler Index plunged by 543.06 points or 2.99 percent to close at 17,590.54 points with total turnover of 11.456 million shares.

BR Cement Index surged by 163.49 points or 2.26 percent to close at 7,383.73 points with 47.683 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index lost 45.39 points or 0.21 percent to close at 22,021.39 points with 19.115 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index increased by 163.39 points or 0.92 percent to close at 17,928.50 points with 25.237 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index decreased by 39.4 points or 0.56 percent to close at 7,044.99 points with 13.804 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index declined by 42.8 points or 1.04 percent to close at 4,055.09 points with 86.579 million shares.

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

He said uncertainty over the IMF approval for proposed closure of IPPs, tax collection shortfalls and cut in PSDP, Government debt surge to over Rs 85 trillion in FY24 and reports of drop in textile exports by 3.1 percent in July 2024 played a catalytic role in bearish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024