Third session in red: KSE-100 Index falls 0.22% in mixed session

The Pakistan Stock Exchange remained under the grip of selling pressure on Friday and the KSE-100 Index fell 0.22% to close with a loss for third successive session.

A hybrid of upside and downside pressures were seen in the market owing to lack of positive triggers.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 40,065.32, a fall of 86.73 points or 0.22%.

Selling pressure persists at PSX, KSE-100 down 0.17%

Trading began on a mixed note but the KSE-100 Index managed to hit intra-day high level in initial hour. From this point on, the market began its descent and closed first session with loss. The selling pressure accelerated in session but a late session buying spree erased few of the losses.

Index-heavy automobile, cement, chemical and banking sectors closed in the red while fertiliser and oil spaced closed with gains.

A report from Arif Habib Limited stated that the day began in the green for the PSX though the battle was lost to the bears as the opening session closed in the red.

“The second session resumed in the red and lost 257.63 points in the intraday,” it said. “The impeding IMF deal along with the political uncertainty kept the investors at bay as the session concluded in the negative zone with losing net 86.73 points.”

Volumes remained dry in the mainboard while the third tier equity remained as the volume board leaders, it said.

On the economic front, rupee ended its three-session winning streak against the US dollar as the currency registered a marginal depreciation of Re0.01 or 0.01% in the inter-bank market on Friday to close at 286.74.

Sectors contributing to the negative performance include technology and communication (43.0 points), commercial banks (23.3 points) and power generation and distribution (17.1 points).

Volume on the all-share index spiked to 136.9 million from 116.5 million on Thursday, while the value of shares traded rose to Rs3.4 billion from Rs2.6 billion recorded in the previous session.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 23.3 million shares followed by Unity Foods with 7.5 million shares and TPLP-JULB with 6.2 million shares.

Shares of 314 companies were traded on Friday, of which 109 registered an increase, 178 recorded a fall and 27 remained unchanged.