RECORDER REPORT
KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Monday remained under pressure due to selling in various sectors.
BRIndex100 lost 2.33 points or 0.05 percent to close at 4,718.06 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,764.89 and intraday low of 4,707.84 points. Volumes stood at 134.107 million shares.
BRIndex30 decreased by 9.55 points or 0.04 percent to close at 23,413.63 points with a volume of 101.062 million shares.
The benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 16.95 points to close at 43,931.16 points. Trading activity also remained low as daily volumes on the ready counter decreased to 160.149 million shares as compared to 227.213 million shares traded last Thursday.
Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $1.4 million. The market capitalization declined by Rs 15 billion to Rs 9.021 trillion. Out of total 341 active scrips, 214 closed in negative, 106 in positive while the value of 21 stocks remained unchanged.
Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 24.665. It gained Re 0.20 to close at Rs 13.24 followed by Lotte Chemical that increased by Re 0.62 to close at Rs 12.22 with 14.145 million shares.
Khyber Textile and Ismail Industries were the top gainers with Rs 19.26 and Rs 19.00, respectively to close at Rs 404.65 and Rs 399.00. Rafhan Maize and Unilever Foods were the top losers with Rs 324.17 and Rs 314.00, respectively to close at Rs 7,853.33 and Rs 7,785.00.
BR Commercial Banks Index increased by 47.9 points or 0.53 percent to close at 9,100.03 points with total turnover of 41.846 million shares.
BR Cement Index declined by 151.9 points or 2.9 percent to close at 5,092.44 points with 14.413 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index gained 36.14 points or 0.66 percent to close at 5,545.55 points with 6.030 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index decreased by 14.11 points or 1.19 percent to close at 1,168.67 points with 7.047 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index closed at 6,183.62 points, up 13.41 points or 0.22 percent with 13.827 million shares.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that stocks closed lower amid mid- session pressure on rupee devaluation impacting earnings outlook for the auto, cement and steel sector. Banking stocks outperformed on surging banking spreads. He said investors’ concerns for economic uncertainty, falling US crude prices, rupee uncertainty and foreign outflows played a catalyst role in bearish close.
