A bearish trend continued on Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Tuesday. The benchmark KSE-100 index lost another 116.66 points to close at 48,539.06 points. The market remained under heavy pressure throughout the day and the index hit 48,062.16 points intra-day low, down 593.56 points. However, it recovered at the fag end on the back of buying in select stocks.
Selling was seen from both local and foreign fronts. Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $7.7 million. Due to selling pressure, daily trading volumes on the ready counter increased to 195.127 million shares as compared to 132.992 million shares traded Monday. The market capitalisation decreased by Rs 20 billion to Rs 9.573 trillion. Out of total 395 active scrips, 248 closed in negative, 134 in positive while the value of 13 stocks remained unchanged. TRG Pak was the volume leader with 14.391 million shares. It gained Rs 0.53 to close at Rs 53.00 followed by Sui Northern Gas that lost Rs 0.41 to close at Rs 129.71 with 12.135 million shares. Power Cement increased by Rs 0.96 to close at Rs 19.28 with 11.939 million shares.
Unilever Foods and Colgate Palmolive were the top gainers with Rs 215.28 and Rs 104.00, respectively to close at Rs 6,250.00 and Rs 2,204.00. Rafhan Maize and Wyeth Pak were the top losers with Rs 188.00 and Rs 119.74, respectively to close at Rs 7,711.00 and Rs 2,275.24.
Arhum Ghous at JS Global Capital said that volatility extended to the trading session as well, as the index came staggering down to make an intraday low of negative 594 points to finally close 117 points down at 48,539 points. Trading volumes stood at 195 million shares. OGDC (up 0.28 percent) closed in the green in the E&P space as the company announced discovery of hydrocarbons at its Exploratory Well Chhutto 1. Mixed sentiments were observed in the banking sector. Index heavy weight HBL (down 0.39 percent) was a major laggard of the sector, whereas UBL invited investor interest on the back of news that the government has waived off 15 percent income tax on profit the bank is earning on the foreign currency loans extended to Pakistan. Technology companies like SYS (down 0.77 percent) and NETSOL (down 2.09 percent) closed in the red zone on news that the taxation of e-commerce is likely to be considered in the upcoming budget.
Zeeshan Afzal at Insight Securities roller coaster ride witnessed as index tested levels of 48,000 and then recovered by almost one percent in the final hour of close. Concerns have been pretty much the same, expectations of a decision against the incumbent government giving market jitters. Bargain hunters came to the rescue, chipping in names that are likely to be included in MSCI EM.