The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a negative session on Monday, as its benchmark KSE-100 Index closed in red amid concerns of an expected rate hike in the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting due this week.
The KSE-100 stared positive, hitting an intra-day high of 46,174.69. However, profit-taking curbed the gains and pushed the index into negative territory.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 45,865.73, down by 147.76 or 0.32%.
“Market sentiments was dull as investors remain cautious throughout the day,” brokerage house Topline Securities stated in its daily market report.
However, energy sector stocks remained in the limelight in anticipation of gas tariff hike announcement, it said.
Banks, fertiliser, and E&P sectors contributed negatively to the index as UBL, ENGRO, POL, MCB & HBL lost 148 points, cumulatively. On the flip side, PPL, SNGP & PSEL gained 81 points due to some buying interest in them, according to the brokerage house.
On Friday, the stock market had witnessed a positive session, with the KSE-100 Index closing higher by over 250 points on the back of rupee’s recovery against the US dollar.
The Pakistani rupee maintained an upward trend against the US dollar, appreciating for the fourth successive session to settle at 301.16 in the inter-bank market on Monday.
Volume on the all-share index increased to 213.2 million from 149.57 million on Friday.
The value of shares rose to Rs8.195 billion from Rs5.551 billion in the previous session.
Bank Al-Falah remained the volume leader with 59.316 million shares, followed by K-Electric Ltd. with 14.653 million shares and Pak Petroleum with 11.683 million shares.
Shares of 306 companies were traded on Monday, of which 114 registered an increase, 172 recorded a fall, and 20 remained unchanged.
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