PSX remains under pressure

BRIndex100 lost 24.19 points on week-on-week basis to close 4,246.73 points. Average daily trading volumes stood at 247.023 million shares.

BRIndex30 decreased by 142.58 points to close at 22,146.82 points with average daily turnover of 175.550 million shares.

KSE-100 declined by 83.60 points on week-on-week basis and closed at 40,832.99 points. Trading activities however improved as average daily volumes on ready counter increased by 8.0 percent to 297.42 million shares as compared to previous week's average of 275.49 million shares. Average daily trading value increased by 23.4 percent to Rs 12.73 billion.

Total market capitalization declined by Rs 57 billion to Rs 7.845 trillion.

An analyst at AKD Securities said that the market started off on a strong note with the KSE-100 index gaining 728 points (or 1.8 percent from Friday close) on Monday, with the rally driven by main board stocks particularly the E&P sector (up 4.6 percent). However, profit-taking and negative news flow on the political front dented market sentiments with the KSE-100 index closing at 40,833 points, down 0.2 percent on week-on-week basis.

The Ogra's proposal for a hike in gas prices (up 31.6 percent) for general industries additionally impacted the market performance. Amongst listed space, the highest rate hike (up 136 percent) was proposed for the Fertilizer sector (on feed), which led the sector to close 1.3 percent lower.

Within AKD Universe, top performers were PPL (up 7.7 percent), CHCC (up 6.2 percent), OGDC (up 6.1 percent), MEBL (up 5.3 percent) and NCL (up 5.0 percent), while laggards were FFBL (down 10.9 percent), ASTL (down 7.9 percent), FCCL (down 7.4 percent), PAEL (down 6.7 percent) and KEL (down 6.4 percent).

An analyst at JS Global Capital said this week was a jinx for KSE-100 Index as after a seven-week positive closing streak (cumulative increase of 7,259 points, up 22 percent), the local bourse witnessed a negative close of 0.2 percent.

The decline was attributed to the negative sentiments that followed the detailed verdict on General Pervez Musharraf's (Retd.) case, after which KSE-100 Index plunged by 2.3 percent in one single session.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019

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