RECORDER REPORT
KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Thursday remained dull weighed by concerns over economic uncertainty and political noise.
BRIndex100 fell by 60.14 points or 1.33 percent to close at 4,453.46 points compared to previous close of 4,513.60 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,514.94 points and intraday low of 4,445.93 points. Volume stood at 49.322 million shares. Pak Elektron was the most traded company in BRIndex100 with a volume of 6.997 million shares.
BRIndex30 opened at 22,622.23 points. It touched intraday high of 22,638.28 points and intraday low of 22,380.07 points to close at 22,402.74 points which was -219.49 points or -0.97 percent lower than previous close. Volume stood at 34.884 million shares.
The benchmark KSE-100 lost 431.55 points to close at 41,869.65 points down from 42,301.20 points Wednesday. Trading activity remained thin and trading volume at the ready counter also declined to 56.93 million compared to 77.526 million Thursday. The market capitalization declined by Rs 35 billion to Rs 8.677 trillion.
Analysts said the first day of Ramazan saw very low volumes and slow activity. Blue chips were trading at deep discount but the buyer was absent. Market tested 42k level for the second time in recent past, but failed to generate the volumes it did at the previous touchdown. End of the session, with one percent decline, the KSE-100 index closed at 41,870 points.
Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corp. said that panic gripped investor sentiments at PSX amid thin trade on the first day of Ramazan on concerns for economic uncertainty, foreign outflows and political noise.
Oil stocks outperformed after US crude rose above $72/barrel on weak US inventory data. Surging circular debt crises, trade and external account imbalances and uncertainty over financing $91.8bn external debt played a catalyst role in bearish close, he added.
Pak Elektron was the volume leader with 6.99 million shares. It fell by Re 1.93 to close at Rs 36.95 followed by K-Electric which gained Re 0.05 to Rs 6.12 with 4.83 million shares. Dewan cement was the third highest trading share with 3.9 million shares. It closed at Rs 16.97, down Re 0.73.
Pak Tobacco and Bata (Pak) were the top gainers with Rs 90.50 and Rs 83.99 to close at Rs 1,913.00 and Rs 2,248.99, respectively. Murree Brewery and Indus Motor were the top losers with Rs 24.75 and Rs 17.95 to Rs 725.25 and Rs 1.605.49, respectively.
BR Commercial Banks Index closed at 8,331.17 with a net negative change of -96.24 points or a percentage change of -1.14 and a total turnover of 4,550,000. BR Cement Index Closed at 5,152.46 with a net negative change of -110.73 points or a percentage change of -2.1 and a total turnover of 8,162,050.
BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 5,311.98 with a net negative change of -30.6 points or a percentage change of -0.57 and a total turnover of 3,374,840.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 1,100.54 with a net negative change of -24.7 points or a percentage change of -2.2 and a total turnover of 3,240,500.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index closed at 6,240.11 with a net negative change of -12.5 points or a percentage change of -0.2 and a total turnover of 5,350,000.
Analysts at JS said the local bourse remained dull as the index made an intraday low of -468 points to close at 41,869 level (down 431 points), owing to jitters from the political backdrop. This dull activity can be attributed to first day of Ramadan and political uncertainty. Banking sector led the decline in the market, as it closed (-1.1%) lower than its previous day close, they added.
MCB (-2.18%), UBL (-2.30%) and HBL (-0.85%) were major index movers from the aforementioned sector. Cement sector also lost ground where big players such as MLCF (-3.17%), LUCK (-2.11%), CHCC (-2.47%) and DGKC (-2.09%) lost value to close in the red zone.
