KARACHI: A bearish trend continued on Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday due to selling pressure as investors opted to book profit on available margins.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index declined by 335.34 points or 0.39 percent and closed at 85,250.09 points. During the session the index hit 85,773.83 points intra-day high and 85,120.90 points intra-day low levels.

Trading activity also remained low as total daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 323.919 million shares as compared to 513.288 million shares traded on Thursday while total daily traded value on the ready counter declined to Rs 15.679 billion against previous session’s Rs 21.612 billion.

BRIndex100 lost 46.16 points or 0.5 percent to close at 9,097.02 points with total daily turnover of 271.029 million shares.

BRIndex30 decreased by 133.47 points or 0.49 percent to close at 27,192.64 points with total daily trading volumes of 178.724 million shares.

Foreign investors also remained on the selling side and withdrew $1.454 million from the local equity market. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 11 billion to stand at Rs 11.177 trillion. Out of total 445 active scrips, 206 closed in negative and 170 in positive while the value of 69 stocks remained unchanged.

Pak Refinery was the volume leader with 28.461 million shares however declined by Rs 2.57 to close at Rs 23.88 followed by Hub Power Company that increased by Rs 4.98 to close at Rs 102.34 with 19.742 million shares. WorldCall Telecom closed at Rs 1.20, down Rs 0.01 with 14.952 million shares.

Sapphire Fires and Pakistan Tobacco Company were the top gainers increasing by Rs 113.59 and Rs 72.18 respectively to close at Rs 1,327.23 and Rs 1,196.82 while Unilever Pakistan Foods and Hallmark Company were the top losers declining by Rs 101.84 and Rs 29.60 respectively to close at Rs 17,528.15 and Rs 846.61.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that the KSE-100 Index continued its downward trend from the previous session, as the index made an intraday low of minus 464 points to close at 85,250 level (down by 335 points or 0.39 percent). Profit-taking persisted across various sectors. The index experienced pressure throughout the day, closing lower as investors booked gains after recent upward movements.

The E&P and Fertilizer sectors were the major laggards, losing 225 and 206 points respectively, due to lower-than-expected corporate results, which weighed heavily on overall market sentiment.

PRL was the volume leader with 28 million shares which can be attributed to the material information where the company informed and clarified that the news clipping dated 17th October 2024 has not released by the company neither they have entered in any agreement with any Chinese company.

BR Automobile Assembler Index decreased by 28.03 points or 0.16 percent to close at 17,381.41 points with total turnover of 4.812 million shares.

BR Cement Index lost 21.24 points or 0.26 percent to close at 8,262.94 points with 31.509 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index inched down by 11.17 points or 0.05 percent to close at 24,368.18 points with 13.308 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index increased by 481.25 points or 3.41 percent to close at 14,578.43 points with 38.199 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index declined by 142.77 points or 1.69 percent to close at 8,308.09 points with 11.912 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 3,953.47 points, down 13.29 points 0.34 percent with 41.368 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks fell sharply lower amid dismal data on negative 2.65 percent YoY LSM growth in August 2024 and SBP subdued growth projections for 2.5-3.5 percent in FY25.

He said weak global crude oil prices, ongoing foreign outflows and concerns for political uncertainty played a catalyst role in bearish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024