RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Tuesday witnessed a bearish trend and closed in deep red on the second consecutive day due to across-the-board selling on investor concerns over more than expected

increase in interest rate. The KSE-100 Index plunged by 796.48 points or 1.74 percent to close below 45,000 psychological level at 44,948.52 points. Daily trading volumes on ready counter stood at 264.608 million shares as compared to 261.901 million shares traded Monday.

BRIndex100 decreased by 113.56 points or 2.41 percent to close at 4,606.63 points with total daily turnover of 205.666 million shares.

BRIndex30 declined by 780.57 points or 4.04 percent to close at 18,546.69 points with total daily trading volumes of 134.438 million shares. Foreign investors also remained on the selling sides and withdrew $4.255 million from the local equity market. The market capitalization declined by Rs 124 billion to Rs 7.715 trillion. Out of total 358 active scrips, 297 closed in negative and only 49 in positive while the value of 12 stocks remained unchanged.

TRG Pak was the volume leader with 19.634 million shares however declined by Rs 7.16 to close at Rs 88.35 followed by WorldCall Telecom that lost Rs 0.06 to close at Rs 2.17 with 17.169 million shares.

Sapphire Fiber and Gatron Industries were the top gainers increasing by Rs 59.97 and Rs 35.47 respectively to close at Rs 958.00 and Rs 508.47 while Unilever Foods and Nestle Pakistan were the top losers declining by Rs 499.00 and Rs 139.99 respectively to close at Rs 19500.00 and Rs 5560.01.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that bears ruled over the bulls as investors were unable to digest the hawkish stance of last MPC which resulted in double digit six-month Kibor. Hefty increase in the finance cost of leveraged businesses will eventually lower profits as major portion of borrowing appear from Kibor-led lending. The second day of rollover week became under pressure as investors took a cautious side and opted for squaring of roll-over positions. In the last trading hour, bloodbath session was witnessed as selling came across the board.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Technology (down 178 points), Cement (down 145 points), Commercial Banks (down 94 points), E&P (down 64 points) and OMC’s (down 44 points).

BR Automobile Assembler Index decreased by 115.98 points or 1.34 percent to close at 8,514.92 points with total turnover of 2.920 million shares.

BR Cement Index declined by 219.60 points or 3.63 percent to close at 5,830.23 points with 18.697 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index closed at 10,222.93 points, down 92.38 points or 0.9 percent with 16.342 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index fell by 61.59 points or 1.13 percent to close at 5,405.56 points with 5.639 million shares. BR Oil and Gas Index lost 66.76 points or 1.76 percent to close at 3,718.68 points with 18.235 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index plunged by 226.01 points or 5.68 percent to close at 3,750.82 points with 61.341 million shares.