Pakistan Stock Exchange Wednesday witnessed a bearish trend due to selling in various sectors. BRIndex100 lost 35.29 points or 0.8 percent to close at 4,352.58 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,397.76 and intraday low of 4,342.03 points. Volumes stood at 123.160 million shares. BRIndex30 decreased by 350.05 points or 1.59 percent to close at 21,639.75 points with a turnover of 91.708 million shares.
The benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 237.49 points or 0.58 percent to close at 40,522.04 points. Trading activity also reduced as daily volumes on the ready counter decreased to136.979 million shares as compared to 139.508 million shares traded Tuesday.
Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $5.9 million. The market capitalization declined by Rs 61 billion to Rs 8.387 trillion. Out of total 356 active scrips, 237 closed in negative, 100 in positive while the value of 19 stocks remained unchanged.
Unity Foods was the volume leader with 14.570 million shares. However, it lost Re 0.85 to close at Rs 40.16 followed by Bank of Punjab that closed at Rs 11.09, down Re 0.41 with 10.250 million shares. Khyber Textile and Sitara Chemical were the top gainers with Rs 16.70 and Rs 14.34, respectively to close at Rs 350.70 and Rs 379.00. Nestle Pakistan and Millat Tractors were the top losers with Rs 497.80 and Rs 55.30, respectively to close at Rs 9,458.30 and Rs 1,132.40.
BR Commercial Banks Index decreased by 30.89 points or 0.36 percent to close at 8,484.89 points with total turnover of 22.785 million shares. BR Cement Index declined by 83.72 points or 1.86 percent to close at 4,410.37 points with 11.208 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index gained 12.26 points or 0.24 percent to close at 5,195.85 points with 2.530 million shares. BR Tech. & Comm. Index lost 14.9 points or 1.23 percent to close at 1,194.98 points with 7.082 million shares. BR Power Generation and Distribution Index plunged by 75.11 points or 1.3 percent to close at 5,716.67 points with 4.854 million shares.
Maaz Mulla at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 index started on a positive note as the index made an intraday high of plus 65 points but soon lost ground (on evident profit taking) leading to a loss of 335 points, closing down 237 points at the 40,522 level.
Banking and cement sector led the decline in the market as index heavyweights UBL (down 1.50 percent), MCB (down 0.45 percent), DGKC (down 3.77 percent), LUCK (down 2.94 percent), and MLCF (down 0.93 percent) cumulatively contributed minus 93 points to the index.
Crude oil prices edged higher to $69.77/bbl in international market with PPL (up 1.64 percent), OGDC (up 0.20 percent) and POL (up 1.32 percent) being the major movers of the sector. ASTL (down 4.66 percent) from the steel sector declared its FY18 result, where the company declared an EPS of Rs 5.34 and a per share cash payout of Rs 2.20. MTL (down 4.66 percent) from the auto sector declared its FY18 result, positing an EPS of Rs 120.43 and cash dividend of Rs 60 per share.