Stocks witness drawdown

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Thursday witnessed a mixed trend and after moving both ways, closed on a negative note due to investors concerns over prevailing economic and political situation in the country.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index crossed 40,000 psychological level during the session to hit 40,005.07 points intraday high and 39,797.68 points intraday low before closing at 39,848.35 points, down 31.54 points or 0.08 percent.

Due to investors’ lack of interest, trading activities remained thin as total daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 88.701 million shares as compared to 108.795 million shares traded on Wednesday however total daily traded value on ready counter increased to Rs 3.988 billion against previous session’s Rs 3.212 billion.

BRIndex100 lost 2.11 points or 0.05 percent to close at 4,031.86 points with total daily turnover of 77.244 million shares.

BRIndex30 closed at 14,308.09 points, up 1.71 points or 0.01 percent with total daily trading volumes of 49.529 million shares.

Foreign investors also remained net sellers of shares worth $646,456. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 01 to Rs 6.093 trillion. Out of total 286 active scrips, 138 closed in negative and 123 in positive while the value of 25 stocks remained unchanged.

Telecard Limited was the volume leader with 6.211 million shares however lost Rs 0.27 to close at Rs 7.63 followed by Pak Electron that inched down by Rs 0.02 to close at Rs 10.58 with 6.152 million shares. Engro Corp closed at Rs 279.99, down Rs 0.02 with 5.429 million shares.

Bata Pak and Ismail Industries were the top gainers increasing by Rs 89.42 and Rs 36.15 respectively to close at Rs 1939.42 and Rs 518.26 while Nestle Pakistan and Unilever Foods were the top losers declining by Rs 126.10 and Rs 102.33 respectively to close at Rs 4977.40 and Rs 17900.00.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the PSX witnessed a mixed session. The benchmark KSE-100 Index opened in the green but traded both ways activity remained sluggish throughout the trading session. Investors opted to remain side line on account of the impending delay in the signing of SLA between the government and IMF along with the prevailing political uncertainty effecting investors’ confidence. Volumes across the board remained decent, while the 3rd tier stocks stayed in the limelight.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Miscellaneous (down 37.9 points), Technology & Communication (down 23.4 points), Inv. Banks / Inv. Cos. / Securities Cos. (down 12.8 points), Fertilizer (down 12.6 points) and Food & Personal Care Products (down 8.8 points).

BR Automobile Assembler Index increased by 151.65 points or 1.99 percent to close at 7,764.54 points with total turnover of 660,095 shares.

BR Cement Index gained 16.89 points or 0.44 percent to close at 3,836.31 points with 6.179 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index lost 10.23 points or 0.13 percent to close at 8,148.38 points with 8.729 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index added 12.9 points or 0.18 percent to close at 6,987.78 points with 8.235 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index inched up by 5.67 points or 0.15 percent to close at 3,863.82 points with 8.825 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 4,054.01 points, down 26.26 points or 0.64 percent with 16.340 million shares.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that Pakistan equities closed slightly negative where the benchmark KSE100 Index settled at 39,848 level, down 0.08 percent.

Range bound activity witnessed at the bourse as the market made an intraday high of plus 125 points and a low of minus 83 points. Investors were cautioned over ongoing uncertain political and economic conditions.

MTL, PPL, and MEBL were the major positive contributors in the trading session cumulatively added 55 points in benchmark KSE-100 Index. On the flip side PSEL, TRG and DAWH were the major laggards in the trading session.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023