RECORDER REPORT
KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Wednesday opened on a positive note; however this trend could not continue and the equities dropped in deep red due to selling pressure as investors opted for cautious approach and preferred to offload their holdings ahead of announcement of monetary policy.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index declined by 634.94 points or 0.80 percent and closed at 78,651.80 points. The index hit 79,507.18 points intraday high and 78,612.17 points intraday low.
The daily trading volumes on ready counter increased to 532.732 million shares as compared to 509.490 million shares traded on Tuesday while total daily traded value on the ready counter increased to Rs 14.735 million against previous session’s Rs 13.763 billion.
BRIndex100 decreased by 53.34 points or 0.64 percent to close at 8,311.45 points with total daily turnover of 431.056 million shares.
BRIndex30 closed at 26,914.08 points, down 1.04 points with total daily trading volumes of 283.946 million shares.
Foreign investors also remained on the selling side and withdrew $2.264 million from local equity market. The market capitalization declined by Rs 55 billion to stand at Rs 10.470 trillion. Out of total 439 active scrips, 206 closed in negative and 178 in positive while the value of 55 stocks remained unchanged.
WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 80.930 million shares however lost Rs 0.02 to close at Rs 1.50 followed by Pak Elektron that increased by Rs 1.17 to close at Rs 26.85 with 42.596 million shares. Waves Home App gained Rs 0.93 to close at Rs 9.42 with 34.023 million shares.
Unilever Pakistan Foods and Bata Pakistan were the top gainers increasing by Rs 23.01 and Rs 18.54 respectively to close at Rs 17,392.00 and Rs 1,658.96 while Hallmark Company and Mari Petroleum Company were the top losers declining by Rs 93.03 and Rs 82.86 respectively to close at Rs 906.93 and Rs 3,586.20.
An analyst at Topline Securities said Pakistan equities moved in both directions as bullish and bearish forces confronted throughout the session to take the helm at PSX. However, bears emerged as a winner as the KSE-100 Index called the day at 78,652 levels (down 635 points or 0.80 percent).
Investors chose to do profit-taking in select stocks of E&P, Bank and Fertilizer sectors. Resultantly, MARI, BAHL, MCB, MEBL and EFERT lost 315 points, cumulatively. On the other side, OGDC, DAWH and PAEL collectively added 54 points as they witnessed some buying interest in them.
BR Automobile Assembler Index decreased by 80.89 points or 0.47 percent to close at 17,158.21 points with total turnover of 9.220 million shares.
BR Cement Index lost 39.87 points or 0.51 percent to close at 7,819.78 points with 28.978 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index declined by 320.44 points or 1.45 percent to close at 21,780.08 points with 24.395 million shares
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index fell by 92.5 points or 0.5 percent to close at 18,241.77 points with 11.878 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index inched down by 42.22 points or 0.58 percent to close at 7,186.85 points with 18.278 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 3,994.13 points, down 13.18 points or 0.33 percent with 140.768 million shares.
Mubashir Anis Naviwala at JS Global Capital said profit-taking prevailed in the market primarily due to the absence of positive triggers, leading to a decline of 635 points in the market, closing at 78,652 level.
The session started positively, with the index reaching an intraday high of 79,507 (up 220 points). However, it struggled to break through the resistance level of 79,500 points. Trading volume was 533 million shares, with WTL, PAEL, WAVESAPP, KOSM and SLGL leading the volume charts.
