KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Tuesday started the trading session on positive however failed to continue this trend and closed in red zone due to selling pressure as investors opted to book profit on available margins.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index declined by 423.76 points or 0.45 percent and closed at 93,224.56 points. The index hit 93,871.62 points intra-day high and 92,893.11 points intra-day low levels.

Trading activity remained low as total daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 792.904 million shares as compared to 815.188 million shares traded on Monday while total daily traded value on the ready counter declined to Rs 30.788 billion against previous session’s Rs 37.324 billion.

BRIndex100 decreased by 52.13 points or 0.52 percent to close at 9,920.13 points with total daily turnover of 692.829 million shares.

BRIndex30 plunged by 346.3 points or 1.11 percent to close at 30,751.47 points with total daily trading volumes of 467.061 million shares.

Foreign investors also remained on the selling side and withdrew $1.583 million from the local equity market. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 24 billion to stand at Rs 12.031 trillion. Out of total 454 active scrips, 242 closed in negative and 151 in positive while the value of 61 stocks remained unchanged.

Pak Int. Bulk Terminal was the volume leader with 79.861 million shares however lost Rs 0.26 to close at Rs 8.00 followed by K-Electric that gained Rs 0.15 to close at Rs 5.13 with 71.760 million shares. Pak Refinery increased by Rs 1.88 to close at Rs 26.88 with 56.364 million shares.

Ismail Industries and Sapphire Fibres were the top gainers increasing by Rs 123.96 and Rs 46.55 respectively to close at Rs 1,639.50 and Rs 1,175.63 while Service Industries and Philip Morris Pakistan were the top losers declining by Rs 45.87 and Rs 40.58 respectively to close at Rs 1,160.19 and Rs 789.50.

An analyst at Topline Securities said the negative session can be attributed to investors choosing to book profits on prominent stocks that had appreciated in recent sessions.

Major contributors to the decline included PPL (down 1.94 percent), OGDC (down 1.49 percent), ENGRO (down 2.06 percent), SYS (down 1.49 percent), and HBL (down 1.53 percent), collectively shaving 267 points off the index.

The pharmaceutical sector, however, continued to attract investor interest, with HALEON, ABOT, and GLAXO all closing higher than their previous sessions, extending their recent rally.

BR Automobile Assembler Index declined by 157.76 points or 0.81 percent to close at 19,389.54 points with total turnover of 13.570 million shares.

BR Cement Index decreased by 103.38 points or 1.02 percent to close at 9,985.64 points with 35.178 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index lost 78.21 points or 0.32 percent to close at 24,648.56 points with 30.175 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index gained 8.14 points or 0.05 percent to close at 16,264.31 points with 82.557 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index inched down by 10.23 points or 0.11 percent to close at 9,327.77 points with 97.063 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index fell by 42.44 points or 0.92 percent to close at 4,572.42 points with 88.318 million shares.

Mubashir Anis Naviwala at JS Global Capital said profit-taking prevailed across the board.

The market opened in green zone, reaching an intraday high of 93,871, but failed to breach the 94,000 resistance level. Trading volume stood at 793 million shares, with top contributors including PIBTL, KEL, PRL, SSGC and CNERGY.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024