KSE-100 drops 0.23% as volume falls below 100mn

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) endured another lacklustre session on Wednesday amid lack of positive news flow with the KSE-100 Index declining 0.23%.

At close, the benchmark ended with a decrease of 94.31 points or 0.23% to close at 41,766.05.

Trading began with a spike but selling pressure emerged soon after and pulled the index lower. The KSE-100 fell for the rest of the day as flood damages and depreciation of rupee played on their minds. The pessimism caused the market to close in the red.

KSE-100 closes flat in roller-coaster trading session

Automobile, cement, banks and oil sectors bore the brunt of weak sentiment and saw a modest sell off.

A report from Capital Stake stated that the PSX witnessed another dull trading session on Wednesday. Indices slipped lower and lower for most part of the day until finally settling flat, while volumes depreciated from last close, it said.

A report from Topline Securities added that lacklustre activity was observed at the exchange as index traded between its intraday high of 205 points and intraday low -94 points to finally settle at 41,766 level (down by -0.23%).

On the economic front, rupee depreciated Rs2 or 0.9% against the US Dollar on a day-on-day basis to end the day at Rs223.4.

Sectors painting the benchmark KSE-100 in red included fertiliser (32.79 points), banking (21.24 points), and technology and communication (17.45 points).

Volume on the all-share index nearly halved to 92.9 million from 187.3 million on Tuesday. On the other hand, the value of shares traded dropped to Rs3.16 billion from Rs4.02 billion recorded in the previous session.

Hascol was the volume leader with 8.6 million shares, followed by Pak Refinery with 6.2 million shares and Cnergyico with 4.8 million shares.

Shares of 337 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 130 registered an increase, 181 recorded a fall, and 26 remained unchanged.