KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Thursday witnessed a bearish trend and despite positive opening, closed in deep red due to selling pressure as investors opted to book profit on available margins.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index plunged by 1,319.80 points or 1.46 percent and closed at 88,966.77 points. The index hit 90,700.23 points intraday high however dropped into negative zone due to selling pressure.

Trading activity also remained low as daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 546.274 million shares as compared to 614.564 million shares traded on Wednesday while total daily traded value on the ready counter declined to Rs 24.117 billion against previous session’s Rs 27.341 billion.

BRIndex100 decreased by 118.32 points or 1.23 percent to close at 9,483.07 points with total daily turnover of 458.800 million shares.

BRIndex30 declined by 202.05 points or 0.71 percent to close at 28,370.98 points with total daily trading volumes of 295.863 million shares.

Foreign investors also remained net sellers of shares worth $32,891. The market capitalization declined by Rs 159 billion to stand at Rs 11.536 trillion. Out of total 437 active scrips, 240 closed in negative and 137 in positive while the value of 60 stocks remained unchanged.

K-Electric was the volume leader with 73.617 million shares and gained Rs 0.18 to close at Rs 4.44 followed by Bank of Punjab that inched up by Rs 0.29 to close at Rs 5.82 with 42.667 million shares. WorldCall Telecom lost Rs 0.02 to close at Rs 1.22 with 25.898 million shares.

Hoechst Pakistan and Unilever Pakistan Foods were the top gainers increasing by Rs 140.46 and Rs 112.49 respectively to close at Rs 2,257.58 and Rs 19,100.00 while PIA Holding Company LimitedB and Nestle Pakistan were the top losers declining by Rs 91.28 and Rs 75.73 respectively to close at Rs 831.24 and Rs 6,552.02.

An analyst at Topline Securities said the KSE-100 Index recent rally was on account of expectation of decline in policy rate cut; profit-taking was observed today on the back of decline in T-Bill auction which can be attributed to buy on rumor and sell on news phenomena.

In the trading session top traded value wise companies were SAZEW (Rs.2.15 billion), PSO (Rs.1.83 billion), ATRL (Rs.1.57 billion), PPL (Rs.1.22 billion) and TRG (Rs.995 million).

Point wise major contribution came from bank and fertilizer companies, as MCB PA, HBL PA, MEBL PA, ENGRO PA and EFERT PA lost value to weigh down on the index by minus 551 points.

BR Automobile Assembler Index lost 25.88 points or 0.14 percent to close at 17,881.66 points with total turnover of 9.701 million shares.

BR Cement Index declined by 183.4 points or 1.94 percent to close at 9,269.96 points with 55.330 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index plunged by 614.95 points or 2.42 percent to close at 24,825.88 points with 101.027 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index increased by 87.38 points or 0.58 percent to close at 15,143.72 points with 96.628 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index decreased by 87.47 points or 1.01 percent to close at 8,588.98 points with 36.546 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index fell by 64.72 points or 1.47 percent to close at 4,343.35 points with 78.602 million shares.

“After significant intraday fluctuations, the KSE-100 Index faced notable volatility, closing the session in negative territory with a loss of over 1,300 points,” Mohammed Waqar Iqbal at JS Global Capital said.

Profit-taking was concentrated in key sectors, including cement, fertilizer, and financial services.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024