KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed bearish trend on Friday due to heavy selling on reports that the staff-level agreement between the government and the IMF mission would take some time.

The market opened in negative zone and after remaining under pressure for most part of both the sessions finally closed in deep red with heavy losses.

The benchmark KSE-100 index plunged by 724.81 points or 1.71 percent and closed below 42,000 psychological level at 41,741.78 points.

Trading activities also remained low as total daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 281.894 million shares as compared to 367.356 million shares traded on Thursday, however total daily traded value on ready counter increased to Rs 14.709 billion against previous session’s Rs 13.590 billion.

BRIndex100 decreased by 91.75 points or 2.15 percent to close at 4,174.21 points with total daily turnover of 261.934 million shares.

BRIndex30 declined by 505.2 points or 3.23 percent to close at 15,120.57 points with total daily trading volumes of 199.733 million shares.

The foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $816,380. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 94 billion to Rs 6.559 trillion. Out of total 328 active scrips, 241 closed in negative and only 70 in positive while the value of 17 stocks remained unchanged.

OGDC was the volume leader with 38.731 million shares however plunged by Rs 4.89 to close at Rs 101.06 followed by PPL that fell by Rs 3.83 to close at Rs 80.01 with 28.035 million shares. WorldCall Telecom lost Re 0.07 to close at Rs 1.27 with 27.482 million shares.

Colgate Palmolive and Sapphire Textile were the top gainers increasing by Rs 99.36 and Rs 71.62 respectively to close at Rs 1464.86 and Rs 1026.62 while Nestle Pakistan and Reliance Cotton were the top losers declining by Rs 93.32 and Rs 52.50 respectively to close at Rs 5441.67 and Rs 647.50.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said the bears ambushed the PSX, following a string of bullish sessions that ended the business week on a sour note. The market opened in the red and moved in the same region throughout both sessions after it was reported last night that the staff-level agreement between the government and the IMF mission would take some time, giving the bears an advantage as the index fell to 803.37 points intraday. The E&P sector remained in the spotlight as investors’ morale was shattered following the finance minister’s statement on the resolution of the Gas Circular Debt stated in a press conference. Across the board, volumes stayed stable.

Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (down 199.8 points), Fertilizer (down 98.3 points), Commercial Banks (down 97.9 points), Power Generation & Distribution (down 81.9 points), and Cement (down 75.1 points).

BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 44.53 points or 0.6 percent to close at 7,414.56 points with total turnover of 2.080 million shares.

BR Cement Index decreased by 93.63 points or 2.42 percent to close at 3,780.02 points with 21.763 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index fell by 99.15 points or 1.19 percent to close at 8,232.89 points with 21.992 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index plunged by 220.07 points or 3.27 percent to close at 6,518.36 points with 23.482 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index declined by 154.42 points or 3.44 percent to close at 4,338.25 points with 96.080 million shares.

BR Tech & Comm Index lost 68.2 points or 1.53 percent to close at 4,381.10 points with 40.096 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that stocks fell across the board after IMF team left without firm agreement on bailout loan programme.

He said investor concerns for IMF giving nation tough conditions to loan, forex reserves falling below $3.0 billion on debt payments and uncertainty over outcome of Pak-IMF 9th review mission talks amid slowdown in foreign inflows, circular debt crises, debt servicing and high inflation played a catalyst role in bearish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023

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