KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday witnessed a volatile session and closed on a negative note due to institutional profit-taking in the select scrips.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index declined by 589.95 points or 0.72 percent to close at 81,657.97 points on Thursday down from 82,247.92 points on Wednesday. The index hit 82,905.73 points intraday high and 81,552.66 points intraday low, however closed on lower level due to profit-taking, despite the approval of $7 billion loan program by the IMF board.
Total daily volumes on the ready counter surged to 423.942 million shares as compared to 422.163 million shares traded a day earlier. Total daily traded value on the ready counter decreased to Rs 17.671 billion against previous session’s Rs 18.380 billion.
On Thursday, BRIndex100 fell 96.7 points or 1.12 percent to reach 8,571.51 points compared to 8,668.21 points. Total volume at BRIndex was 307.067 million shares and WorldCall Telecom was the most traded company.
BRIndex30 opened at 26,265.46 points and closed at 25,859.25 with a decline of 406.21 points or 1.55 percent with total volume of 197.199 million.
The market capitalization decreased by Rs 72 billion to Rs 10.713 trillion. Out of total 444 active scrips, 125 closed in positive and 263 in negative while the value of 56 stocks remained unchanged.
PIA Holding Company was the volume leader with 36.32 million shares followed by WorldCall Telecom that closed at Rs 1.23 with 33.11 million shares. Kohinoor Spinning ranked third with share trading of 25.81 million shares.
Sapphire Textile Mills Limited and Hallmark Company Limited were the top gainers increasing by Rs 108.85 and Rs 93.39 respectively to close at Rs 1,257.62 and Rs 1,027.29, while Unilever Pakistan Foods Limited and Sapphire Fibres Limited were the top losers declining by Rs 254.31 and Rs 119.90 respectively to close at Rs 17,145 and Rs 1,310.
Ahsan Mehanti analyst at Arif Habib Corp said that stocks closed lower on institutional profit-taking amid uncertainty over outcome of govt tax reforms to unlock $7 billion IMF bailout and challenges over ongoing political and institutional tensions. Weak rupee, slump in global crude oil prices and concerns for surging power sector circular debt played a catalyst role in bearish close, he added.
Key market movers included heavyweights such as SRVI, BAFL, POL, BAHL, and NBP, collectively adding 118 points to the index. On the contrary, HUBC, FFC, UBL, ILP, and MARI together dragged the index down by 426 points. On the news front, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) board approved a $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Pakistan, providing a critical boost to the nation’s struggling economy.
BR Automobile Assembler Index lost 172.66 points or 1 percent to close at 17,073.86 points with a total turnover of 7.392 million.
BR Cement Index closed at 8,032.49, down 3.54 points or a percentage change of 0.04 with a total turnover of 33.382 million.
BR Commercial Banks Index fell by 10.52 points or 0.04 percent to close at 23,553.30 points and some 27.525 million shares were traded.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index declined by 601.16 points or 3.53 percent to close at 16,406.21 points with a total turnover of 28.733 million.
BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 7,469.57 points, down by 44.12 points or 0.59 percent with a total turnover of 22.486 million.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 3,931.08 with a net negative change of 54.2 points or a percentage change of 1.36 and a total turnover of 72.449 million.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024