BRIndex100 down 15.42 points

Pakistan Stock Exchange Monday witnessed a declining trend due to selling by local and foreign investors in various sectors. BRIndex100 lost 15.42 points or 0.32 percent to close at 4,779.95 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,825.54 and intraday low of 4,767.06 points. Volumes stood at 173.824 million shares.
BRIndex30 declined by 236.58 points to 24,658.33 points with a turnover of 112.096 million shares. The benchmark KSE-100 index decreased by 93.83 points to 44,457.30 points. Trading activity remained thin as daily volumes on the ready counter declined to 192.333 million shares as compared to 270.755 million shares traded Friday.
Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $3.4 million. The market capitalization decreased by Rs 35 billion to Rs 9.182 trillion. Out of total 377 active scrips, 208 closed in negative, 152 in positive while the value of 17 stocks remained unchanged.
Dewan Cement was the volume leader with 23.704 million shares. It increased by Rs 1.16 to close at 24.41 followed by Bank of Punjab that gained Re 0.37 to close at Rs 10.31 with 23.341 million shares. Unilever Foods and Ghandhara Ind. were the top gainers with Rs 100.00 and Rs 28.94, respectively to close at Rs 8,000.00 and Rs 607.80. Nestle Pakistan and Bata Pak were the top losers with Rs 250.00 and Rs 97.00, respectively to close at Rs 11,600.00 and Rs 2,403.00.
BR Commercial Banks Index increased by 239.97 points or 2.69 percent to close at 9,159.58 points with a turnover of 50.118 million shares. BR Cement Index declined by 158.93 points or 2.54 percent to close at 6,105.11 points with 32.683 million shares. BR Oil and Gas Index lost 31.69 points or 0.6 percent to close at 5,246.18 points with 5.128 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 1,203.32 points, down 6.37 points or 0.53 percent with 8.700 million shares. BR Power Generation and Distribution Index decreased by 78.92 points or 1.18 percent to close at 6,588.35 points with 4.215 million shares.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that stocks closed lower amid pressure in leveraged scrips after SBP policy rate raised by 25bps and investor concerns for Fitch Credit Rating Agency negative ratings on Pakistan. He said falling FX reserves, dismal financial results in cement sector and dip in global crude prices on output surge played a catalyst role in bearish close at PSX.
An analyst at Topline Securities said that the benchmark index traded in a 500 point range. Initial excitement surrounding discount rate hike was seen in banking and cash rich auto sector. However, selling pressure was seen in rest of the market as investors weighted the negative impact of rate hike on other sectors and companies. The market closed at 44,457, down 0.21 percent.
A number of mid-cap banks did close near or on the upper mid limit today like BAFL, FABL and BAHL among others. Activity was seen in a number of retail investors' favorites. Top volume leader both by volume and value was (DCL) up 5.0 percent, on back of news of stay order from court against its recently notified trading suspension.
Top 5 Index point detractors included LUCK (down 2.9 percent), OGDC (down 1.6 percent), FFC (down 2.4 percent), MLCF (down 4.7 percent) and DGKC (down 2.2 percent), which withheld 157 points from the index while UBL (up 2.8 percent), BAHL (up 5.0 percent), MCB (up 1.3 percent), BAFL (up 5.0 percent) and HBL (up 0.8 percent) added 184 points.