RECORDER REPORT
KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Wednesday closed on a negative note as investors opted to book profit on available margins.
BRIndex100 lost 8.43 points or 0.21 percent to close at 4,099.90 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,137.73 and intraday low of 4,086.31 points. Volumes stood at 126.126 million shares.
BRIndex30 decreased by 115.73 points or 0.53 percent to close at 21,691.86 points with a turnover of 97.337 million shares.
The KSE-100 index declined by 130.81 points or 0.33 percent to close at 38,921.69 points. Trading activity remained low as daily volumes on the ready counter decreased to 133.847 million shares as compared to 166.790 million shares traded Tuesday.
Foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $0.5 million. The market capitalization declined by Rs 40 billion to Rs 7.844 trillion. Out of total 336 active scrips, 212 closed in negative, 104 in positive while the value of 20 stocks remained unchanged.
Pak Elektron was the volume leader with 25.121 million shares. It gained Re 0.64 to close at Rs 27.55 followed by Unity Foods that lost Rs 1.07 to close at Rs 25.99 with 11.660 million shares.
Nestle Pakistan and Shezan International were the top gainers with Rs 101.00 and Rs 22.93, respectively to close at Rs 8,300.00 and Rs 389.99. Rafhan Maize and Unilever Foods were the top losers with Rs 250.00 and Rs 95.00, respectively to close at Rs 6,500.00 and Rs 7,105.00.
BR Commercial Banks Index lost 28.22 points or 0.34 percent to close at 8,329.33 points with total turnover of 8.598 million shares.
BR Cement Index decreased by 49.83 points or 1.17 percent to close at 4,217.49 points with 16.541 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index gained 26.05 points or 0.55 percent to close at 4,793.57 points with 18.796 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 989.97 points, down 4.57 points or 0.46 percent with 12.309 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index declined by 43.08 points or 0.7 percent to close at 6,146.69 points with 2.962 million shares.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that bearish activity witnessed at PSX on institutional profit-taking amid economic uncertainty. Oil and banking stocks outperformed on surging global crude oil prices and rising banking spreads. He said dismal data on CPI inflation for December 2018, Fitch report fears over slide in growth rate and exports, concerns for pending circular debt and uncertainty over terms of IMF bailout package played a catalyst role in bearish close at PSX.
