BRIndex100 flat

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Friday remained under pressure with extremely low trading activity as the investors remained cautious following concerns over the fast spread of the deadly coronavirus.

BRIndex100 lost 3.52 points or 0.1 percent to close at 3,413.76 points on Friday. During the session, the BRIndex-100 touched an intraday high of 3,441.83 and an intraday low of 3,401.74 points. Total volumes stood at 76.358 million shares.

BRIndex30 closed at 17,793.66 points, up 102.77 points or 0.58 percent with total turnover of 53.531 million shares.

The KSE-100 Index declined by 36.47 points or 0.11 percent and closed at 33,267.69 points. Trading activities remained extremely low as daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 88.018 million shares as compared to 176.025 million shares traded on Thursday.

The foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $2.0 million. Total market capitalization however increased by Rs 9 billion to Rs 6.305 trillion. Out of total 330 active scrips, 166 closed in negative and 139 in positive while the value of 25 stocks remained unchanged.

Unity Foods was the volume leader with 9.294 million shares and gained Rs 0.40 to close at Rs 12.79 followed by Hascol Petroleum that closed at Rs 14.89, down Rs 0.01 with 5.819 million shares. Unilever Foods and Nestle Pakistan were the top gainers increasing by Rs 390.00 and Rs 262.50 respectively to close at Rs 10500.00 and Rs 6100.00 while ICI Pakistan and Indus Motor Co were the top losers declining by Rs 39.09 and Rs 30.19 respectively to close at Rs 620.91 and Rs 959.81.

BR Automobile Assembler Index decreased by 55.8 points or 1.01 percent to close at 5,477.98 points with total volume of 1.297 million shares.

BR Cement Index lost 18.74 points or 0.46 percent to close at 4,031.82 points with 15.774 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index fell by 43.68 points or 0.65 percent to close at 6,651.93 points with 6.228 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index increased by 46.09 points or 1.05 percent to close at 4,453.39 points with 3.494 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index gained 19.33 points or 0.56 percent to close at 3,487.93 points with 15.335 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 956.36 points, up 10.02 points or 1.06 percent with 11.348 million shares.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the KSE100 traded in a narrow range between plus 197 points and minus 145 points, closing the session down 36 points.

Selling pressure was evident in Banks, E&P and Cement sectors. International oil prices had little impact on investor sentiment, which is affected more from upcoming MSCI rebalancing.

Cement sector led the volumes with 15.7 million shares, followed by Technology (11.3 million shares) and O&GMCs (11.1 million shares).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (down 50 points), Fertilizer (down 29 points), Autos (down 12 points), O&GMCs (up 32 points), Power (up 25 points) and Food (up 20 points).

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include HUBC (up 27 points), NESTLE (up 26 points), SNGP (up 19 points), PAKT (up 12 points) and PSO (up 6 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include LUCK (down 17 points), UBL (down 13 points), ICI (down 12 points), ENGRO (down 11 points) and HBL (down 10 points).