Equities extend losses

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday remained under pressure and closed in negative zone as the investors opted to offload their holdings on available margins.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index declined by 365.83 points or 0.45 percent and closed at 81,292.13 points. The index hit 81,842.75 points intraday high and 81,183.50 points intraday low.

Trading activity remained low as total daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 339.323 million shares as compared to 423.942 million shares traded on Thursday while total daily traded value on the ready counter declined to Rs 12.893 billion against previous session’s Rs 17.671 billion.

BRIndex100 lost 30.35 points or 0.35 percent to close at 8,541.16 points with total daily turnover of 285.171 million shares.

BRIndex30 decreased by 174.96 points or 0.68 percent to close at 25,684.29 points with total daily trading volumes of 189.935 million shares.

The market capitalization declined by Rs 60 billion to stand at Rs 10.653 trillion. Out of total 439 active scrips, 234 closed in negative and 129 in positive while the value of 76 stocks remained unchanged.

K-Electric was the volume leader with 50.666 million shares however lost Rs 0.17 to close at Rs 3.67 followed by WorldCall Telecom that closed at Rs 1.20, down Rs 0.03 with 32.405 million shares. Hub Power Co gained Rs 0.65 to close at Rs 123.77 with 16.264 million shares.

Hallmark Company and Rafhan Maize Products Company were the top gainers increasing by Rs 102.70 and Rs 92.46 respectively to close at Rs 1,129.99 and Rs 7,346.75 while Sapphire Textile Mills and Premium Textile Mills were the top losers declining by Rs 40.23 and Rs 29.00 respectively to close at Rs 1,217.39 and Rs 260.99.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that the KSE-100 Index largely remained in pressure during the trading session as index declined by 0.45 percent to settle at 81,292 level.

This pressure in the market can be attributed to selling by foreign corporates over the last couple of trading session which is keeping the investor sentiment in check.

Major positive contribution to the index came from FFC, HUBC, EFERT, FFBL and LUCK, as they cumulatively contributed plus 220 points to the index, whereas on the other hand MARI, UBL, MCB, NBP and ENGRO lost value to weigh down on the index by 279 points.

BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 82.54 points or 0.48 percent to close at 17,156.40 points with total turnover of 9.678 million shares.

BR Cement Index lost 25.45 points or 0.32 percent to close at 8,007.04 points with 20.603 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index plunged by 279.95 points or 1.19 percent to close at 23,273.35 points with 25.008 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index decreased by 97.3 points or 0.59 percent to close at 16,308.91 points with 79.139 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index fell by 65.81 points or 0.88 percent to close at 7,403.76 points with 10.060 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index declined by 52.81 points or 1.34 percent to close at 3,878.27 points with 55.409 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed lower amid concerns for the IMF tough conditions to end energy subsidies, monitoring government spending, closure of SOEs and structural tax reforms to raise inflation in FY25.

He said ongoing political noise, delays over privatisation of SOEs and pressure amid future contracts rollover played a catalytic role in bearish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024