PSX stays bearish

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Friday witnessed a mixed trend and closed on a negative note due to selling pressure on the last day of rollover week.

The market opened in the green zone, although initially bulls drove the market but soon bears took the charge as investors opted to square-up their positions due to the rollover week, experts said.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index hit 40,978.88 points intraday high and 40,681.90 points intraday low before closing at 40,707.76 points, down 130.75 points or 0.32 percent.

The daily trading volumes on ready counter increased to 153.441 million shares as compared to 150.264 million shares traded Thursday while the daily traded value on ready counter declined to Rs 4.958 billion against previous session’s Rs 5.772 billion.

BRIndex100 lost 29.31 points or 0.72 percent to close at 4,051.48 points with total daily turnover of 140.537 million shares.

BRIndex30 declined by 129.85 points or 0.9 percent to close at 14,304.38 points with total daily trading volumes of 109.206 million shares.

Foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $432,066. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 13 billion to Rs 6.320 trillion. Out of total 330 active scrips, 189 closed in negative and 113 in positive while the value of 28 stocks remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 35.124 million shares and gained Rs 0.05 to close at Rs 1.30 followed by Maple Leaf Cement that increased by Rs 0.94 to close at Rs 24.72 with 10.541 million shares. TPL Properties inched up by Rs 0.14 to close at Rs 14.66 with 7.081 million shares.

Unilever Foods and Rafhan Maize were the top gainers increasing by Rs 1317.50 and Rs 490.00 respectively to close at Rs 19527.50 and Rs 8990.00 while Premium Textile and Ismail Industries were the top losers declining by Rs 43.99 and Rs 29.09 respectively to close at Rs 575.00 and Rs 480.01.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the PSX concluded the week with a mixed session. The market opened in the green zone, although initially bulls drove the market but soon bears took the charge as investors opted to square-up their positions due to the rollover week. Market remained choppy throughout the day as investors kept cautious trading approach owing to political noise along with no clarity from the IMF board for the release of 9th tranche of the IMF Extended Fund Facility. Trading volumes remained healthy as investors opted for value hunting in high dividend yielding stocks.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Commercial Banks (down 112.3 points), E&P (down 41.5 points), Technology & Communication (down 29.9 points), OMCs (down 26.2 points) and Glass & Ceramics (down 8.2 points).

BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 17.59 points or 0.24 percent to close at 7,367.34 points with total turnover of 2.435 million shares.

BR Cement Index increased by 45.88 points or 1.23 percent to close at 3,788.35 points with 21.848 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index declined by 106.21 points or 1.31 percent to close at 8,002.70 points with 7.530 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index inched up by 23.02 points or 0.34 percent to close at 6,842.68 points with 14.500 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index decreased by 42.99 points or 1.07 percent to close at 3,962.05 points with 15.080 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 4,266.04 points, down 35.16 points or 0.82 percent with 44.274 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed lower amid thin trade on economic uncertainty. Mid-session support remained on strong rupee recovery and surging FX reserves.

He said uncertainty over SBP monetary policy review on March 16 amid hike in Treasury bond yields to 19.95 percent played a catalyst role in bearish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023