RECORDER REPORT
KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Friday remained under pressure due to selling by local and foreign investors.
BRIndex100 lost 44.95 points or 1.0 percent to close at 4,437.09 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,482.04 and intraday low of 4,432.35 points. Total volumes stood at 110.429 million shares.
BRIndex30 decreased by 280.55 points or 1.28 percent to close at 21,659.23 points with a turnover of 87.509 million shares.
The benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 354.46 points to 41,435.70 points. Trading activity on the ready counter remained low as daily volumes decreased to 128.057 million shares as compared to 161.743 million shares traded Thursday.
Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $0.8 million. The market capitalization declined by Rs 71 billion to Rs 8.493 trillion. Out of total 360 active scrips, 200 closed in negative, 141 in positive while the value of 19 stocks remained unchanged.
Azgard Nine was the volume leader with 15.802 million shares. It gained Re 0.66 to close at Rs 14.24 followed by Dost Steel that closed at Rs 13.28, up Re 0.05 with 11.213 million shares.
Macter Int Limited and Highnoon (Lab) were the top gainers with Rs 17.13 and Rs 15.85, respectively to close at Rs 367.17 and Rs 447.71. Colgate Palmolive and Sapphire Textile were the top losers with Rs 97.99 and Rs 93.28, respectively to close at Rs 2212.01 and Rs 1,772.44.
BR Commercial Banks Index lost 37.37 points or 0.47 percent to close at 7,863.54 percent with total turnover of 13.191 million shares.
BR Cement Index decreased by 87.82 points or 1.66 percent to close at 5,207.58 points with 7.572 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 5,287.39, down 36.81 points or 0.69 percent with 16.396 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index lost 18.59 points or 1.59 percent to close at 1,147.63 points with 5.775 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index closed at 6,452.00 points, up 8.21 points or 0.13 percent with total turnover of 6.121 million shares.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that pressure remained in selected scrips across the board on investor concerns for prevailing political noise and economic uncertainty. The investors weigh World Bank Pakistan Development Update on unsustainable current account balance amid falling capital and financial flows.
Trade remained thin amid investor support in selected oil, banking and auto stocks on higher global crude prices, surging cement dispatch data for October 2017, upbeat financial results and gains on levy of higher regulatory import duties in auto sector. He said concerns for dismal economic outlook and weak global equities played a catalyst role in bearish close.
