KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Tuesday closed on slightly negative note due to selling pressure as the investors opted to book profit on available margins.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index lost 42.89 points or 0.08 percent and closed at 51,027.94 points. The index hit 51,121.92 points intraday high and 50,624.38 points intraday low.

Trading activity remained low as daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 321.403 million shares as compared to 364.070 million shares traded on Monday. The daily traded value on ready counter declined to Rs 11.091 billion against previous session’s Rs 15.930 billion.

BRIndex100 inched down by 15.64 points or 0.3 percent to close at 5,176.63 points with total daily turnover of 288.194 million shares.

BRIndex30 fell by 51.79 points or 0.28 percent to close at 18,307.45 points with daily trading volumes of 189.517 million shares.

Foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $862,488. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 18 billion to Rs 7.415 trillion. Out of total 342 active scrips, 171 closed in negative and 143 in positive while the value of 28 stocks remained unchanged.

Pak Refiner was the volume leader with 33.555 million shares and gained Rs 0.48 to close at Rs 18.64 followed by Fauji Foods that inched up by Rs 0.25 to close at Rs 6.98 with 29.104 million shares. Bankislami Pak increased by Rs 1.34 to close at Rs 19.19 with 15.533 million shares.

Sanofi-Aventis and Pak Services were the top gainers increasing by Rs 56.44 and Rs 47.83 respectively to close at Rs 808.94 and Rs 749.83 while Rafhan Maize and Philip Morris Pak were the top losers declining by Rs 100.00 and Rs 39.85 respectively to close at Rs 8000.00 and Rs 491.55.

It was a profit taking day at Pakistan Equities, an analyst at Topline Securities said. Investors chose to book profit just after the day commenced. Resultantly, the KSE 100 index closed the day at 51,028 level, down 43 points or 0.08 percent.

There was a rally in energy sector stocks in anticipation of gas tariff hikes since last few days. On Monday, the aforesaid long awaited hike got announced. That’s why, there was selling in energy sector stocks purely based on “Buy or Rumors; Sell on News” phenomena.

During the day, E&P, Fertilizer and Cement sectors contributed negatively to the index where PPL, ENGRO, OGDC, FFC and CHCC lost 146 points, cumulatively. On the other hand, HUBC, PSEL and MTL witnessed some buying interest as they added 74 points collectively.

BR Automobile Assembler Index increased by 86.11 points or 0.84 percent to close at 10,278.49 points with total turnover of 3.954 million shares.

BR Cement Index lost 13.04 points or 0.25 percent to close at 5,303.32 points with 10.625 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index inched up by 7.36 points or 0.06 percent to close at 11,890.32 points with 36.530 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index gained 37.94 points or 0.35 percent to close at 10,906.85 points with 22.222 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index decreased by 43.09 points or 0.9 percent to close at 4,764.02 points with 45.704 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 3,654.75 points, down 4.12 points or 0.11 percent with 29.047 million shares.

Muhammad Shuja Qureshi at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 Index recovered from an intra-day loss of 446 points to close down 43 points at 51,028.

Profit-taking in energy sector stocks initiated the downtrend. However, interest in select stocks and refinery sector supported the market.

Volumes clocked in at 321 million shares, where PRL (up 2.6 percent), FFL (up 3.7 percent), BIPL (up 7.5 percent), WTL (down 0.8 percent), and KEL (down 1.8 percent) were the volume leaders.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023

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