RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a rangebound session on Wednesday, ultimately closed on a negative note.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index lost 490 points or 0.43 percent to close at 112,253.76 points compared to 112,743.80 points a day earlier. The index hit an intraday high of 113,327.12points and intraday low level 112,146.10 points.

BRIndex100 declined by 71.79 points or 0.6 percent to settled at 11,817.51 points down from 11,889.30 points with a total volume of 229.420 million shares.

BRIndex30 opened at 35,686.21 points and closed at 35,463.32 points, which was 222.89 points or 0.62 percent lower than previous close. Total volume at BRIndex30 was 161.709 million shares.

Despite the negative trend, overall market activity improved, with trading volume rising to 264 million shares from 207 million in the previous session. Likewise, the total traded value on the ready counter surged to Rs 13.73 billion, up from Rs 11.337 billion in the last session.

The market capitalization decreased by Rs 46 billion to Rs 13.881 trillion. Out of 431 active scrips, 165 closed in positive and 197 in negative while the value of 69 stocks remained unchanged.

Pak Int. Bulk was the volume leader with 53.57 million shares and closed at Rs 9.58followed by WorldCall Telecom that closed at Rs 1.34 with 23.56 million shares. Power Cement ranked third with share trading of 11 million shares and closed at Rs 10.94.

Nestle Pakistan Limited and Sapphire Textile Mills Limited were the top gainers increasing by Rs 149.20 and Rs 88.40 respectively to close at Rs 7,499.20 and Rs 1,288.40,while Rafhan Maize Products Company Limited and Hoechst Pakistan Limited were the top losers declining by Rs 115.00 and Rs 80.83 respectively to close at Rs 9,235.00 and Rs3,102.44.

Ahsan Mehanti analyst at Arif Habib Corp said that stocks fell sharply lower amid selloff in Asian stocks and slump in global crude oil prices on Trump tariff war. Foreign outflows, weak rupee and expected surge in CPI inflation this month played a catalyst role in bearish close, he added.

The BR Automobile Assembler Index fell by 157.29 points or 0.73 percent to close at 21,322.14 points, with a total turnover of 4.394 million shares. Meanwhile, the BR Cement Index declined by 25.97 points or 0.21 percent, settling at 12,446.31 points, with a total turnover of 34.863 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index lost 142.52 points or 0.47 percent to settled at 30,344.67 points with a total turnover of 18.670 million shares.BR Power Generation and Distribution Index declined by 71 points or 0.38 percent to close at 18,763.60 points with a total turnover of 16.131 million shares.

The BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 11,117.91 points, declining by 99.04 points or 0.88 percent with a total turnover of 15.576 million shares. Meanwhile, the BR Tech & Comm. Index dropped 51.24 points or 1.03 percent to settle at 4,946.07 points, with a total turnover of 30.982 million shares.

Analysts at Topline said that investor sentiment remained mixed due to the ongoing Ramazan period. The upward movement was mainly driven by ENGROH, TGL, LUCK, PIBTL, and NESTLE, which together contributed 155 points to the index. On the other hand, EFERT, FFC, and PSO combined to reduce the index by 181 points.