RECORDER REPORT
KARACHI: Despite foreign buying, Pakistan Stock Exchange Wednesday witnessed a downtrend due to heavy selling by local investors.
BRIndex100 lost 48.3 points or 0.97 percent to close at 4,906.48 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,954.78 and intraday low of 4,906.48 points. Volumes stood at 124.187 million shares.
BRIndex30 decreased by 335.85 points to close at 24,945.39 points with a turnover of 85.198 million shares.
The benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 323.10 points to close at 45,478.63 points. Daily trading volumes stood at 156.038 million shares as compared to 147.469 million shares traded Tuesday.
Foreign investors remained net buyers of shares worth $0.3 million. The market capitalization declined by Rs 60 billion to Rs 9.329 trillion. Out of total 382 active scrips, 249 closed in negative, 115 in positive while the value of 18 stocks remained unchanged.
K-Electric was the volume leader with 11.228 million shares. However, it lost Re 0.10 to close at Rs 7.00 followed by Bank of Punjab that gained Re 0.19 to close at Rs 9.54 with 8.577 million shares.
Khyber Tobacco and Abbott Lab were the top gainers with Rs 33.73 and Rs 27.87, respectively to close at Rs 708.40 and Rs 743.48. Unilever Foods and Pak Services were the top losers with Rs 401.00 and Rs 40.50, respectively to close at Rs 9,000.00 and Rs 900.00.
BR Commercial Banks Index declined by 93.84 points or 1.01 percent to close at 9,176.45 points total turnover of 14.224 million shares.
BR Cement Index decreased by 73.79 points or 1.2 percent to close at 6,064.83 points with 18.629 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index lost 34.29 points or 0.63 percent to close at 5,429.42 points with 10.904 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 1,222.57 points, down 6.9 points or 0.56 percent with 4.846 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index plunged by 69.96 points or 1.01 percent to close at 6,853.99 points with 13.737 million shares.
Maaz Mulla at JS Global Capital said that Pakistan equities closed negative with benchmark KSE-100 Index settling at 45,479 levels. Market kicked off positive making an intraday high of plus 202 points but succumbed to pressure in later hours of the session making an intraday low of minus 378 points as the financials, cements and oil sector came under duress.
Pressure likely came after flurry of news related to uncertainties attached to the upcoming federal budget. Major heavyweights namely, HBL (down 3.2 percent), OGDC (down 0.5 percent), PPL (down 0.8 percent), UBL (down 0.2 percent), ENGRO (down 1.1 percent), LUCK (down 1.3 percent), MCB (down 1.0 percent) and POL (down 1.0 percent) cumulatively contributed 206 points to the decline.
In the Financials, HBL (down 3.2 percent), UBL (down 0.2 percent), MCB (down 1.0 percent) and BAHL (down 1.4 percent) were the major laggards. Investors booked profits in the E&Ps as well, where OGDC (down 0.5 percent), PPL (down 0.8 percent) and POL (down 1.0 percent) closed in the red despite international oil prices rebounding over US supply risks. In the Cements, major players, LUCK (down 1.3 percent), DGKC (down 2.7 percent) and FCCL (down 0.7 percent) were the major laggards in the sector.
