Pakistan Stock Exchange Thursday remained under pressure due to selling in various sectors. BRIndex100 lost 40.52 points or 0.9 percent to close at 4,438.14 points. BRIndex-100 touched intraday high of 4,490.95 and intraday low of 4,431.28 points. Volumes stood at 140.120 million shares.
BRIndex30 decreased by 403.78 points or 1.8 percent to close at 22,073.37 points with a turnover of 109.002 million shares.
The benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 354.57 points or 0.85 percent to close at 41,266.39 points. Due to selling pressure, daily trading volumes on the ready counter increased to 159.678 million shares as compared to 126.931 million shares traded Wednesday.
Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $0.1 million. The market capitalization declined by Rs 82 billion to Rs 8.580 trillion. Out of total 373 active scrips, 276 closed in negative, only 82 in positive while the value of 15 stocks remained unchanged.
Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 43.279 million shares. It increased by Re 0.32 to close at Rs 11.96 followed by Ghani Auto (R) that gained Re 0.76 to close at Rs 0.77 with 10.137 million shares. Colgate Palmolive and Khyber Tobacco were the top gainers with Rs 125.13 and Rs 33.60, respectively to close at Rs 2,639.00 and Rs 705.66. Nestle Pakistan and Shezan International were the top losers with Rs 523.90 and Rs 33.75, respectively to close at Rs 9,956.10 and Rs 641.25.
BR Commercial Banks Index increased by 44.39 points or 0.51 percent to close at 8,674.61 points with total turnover of 49.937 million shares.
BR Cement Index declined by 138.4 points or 2.91 percent to close at 4,613.18 points with 14.294 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index decreased by 48.79 points or 0.92 percent to close at 5,251.92 points with 4.092 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 1,217.15 points, down 38.08 points or 3.03 percent with 6.663 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index plunged by 133.03 points or 2.24 percent to close at 5,815.44 points with 5.384 million shares.
Maaz Mulla at JS Global Capital said that negativity prevailed around the clock as bearish momentum continued at the local bourse where the KSE-100 index lost 354 points to close at 41,266 level. The market kicked off on a positive note, climbing plus 94 points, but later succumbed to selling pressure, making an intraday low of minus 397 points.
Major heavyweights namely LUCK (down 2.73 percent), DGKC (down 4.83 percent), PPL (down 1.03 percent), HUBC (down 1.51 percent), PSO (down 1.45 percent) and ENGRO (down 1.01 percent) cumulatively contributed negative 143 points.
Cement sector led the declining trend on back of the news that reported weakness in cement prices locally. Moreover cement sales for August 2018 declined by 2 percent on year-on-year basis in the first two months of the current fiscal year 2018/19. DGKC (down 4.83 percent), CHCC (down 3.53 percent), MLCF (down 3.27 percent), PIOC (down 3.60 percent) and LUCK (down 2.73 percent) were the major loser of the mentioned sector. PPL (down 1.03 percent) and OGDC (down 0.37 percent) from the E&P sector showed downward trajectory as crude oil prices edged lower in international market on emerging market turbulence.
Banking space showed breather where big banks such as HBL (up 1.19 percent), UBL (up 1.49 percent), MCB (up 0.37 percent) and BAHL (up 0.09 percent) closed in the green zone.