KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Wednesday opened on strong positive note and hit new highest-ever levels, however, it failed to continue this momentum and closed in red zone as the investors opted to book profit on these levels. The benchmark KSE-100 Index crossed 61,000 historic level for the first time reaching 61,555.84 points intraday high, however selling pressure forced the market to hit 60.328.18 points intraday low. The KSE-100 Index closed at 60,502.00 points, down 228.26 points or 0.38 percent.

Trading activity also remained low as daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 692.220 million shares as compared to 779.671 million shares traded on Tuesday however total daily traded value increased to Rs 27.039 billion against previous session’s Rs 26.138 billion.

BRIndex100 lost 44.67 points or 0.72 percent to close at 6,185.86 points with total daily turnover of 599.467 million shares.

BRIndex30 declined by 263.51 points or 1.21 percent to close at 21,459.38 points with total daily trading volumes of 336.577 million shares.

Foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $4.204 million. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 28 billion to Rs 8.718 trillion. Out of total 387 active scrips, 231 closed in negative and 143 in positive while the value of 13 stocks remained unchanged.

Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 50.052 million shares and gained Rs 0.16 to close at Rs 5.61 followed by Cnergyico PK that closed at the previous session’s closing level of Rs 4.60 without any change with 35.689 million shares. Pak Refinery lost Rs 0.46 to close at Rs 25.01 with 35.409 million shares.

Sapphire Textile and Pak Services were the top gainers increasing by Rs 53.39 and Rs 38.32 respectively to close at Rs 1149.99 and Rs 1017.59 while Unilever Foods and Hoechst Pak were the top losers declining by Rs 300.00 and Rs 100.00 respectively to close at Rs 22100.00 and Rs 1248.00.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that the Pakistan’s stock market underwent a correction, concluding the session at 60,502 with a decrease of 228 points or 0.38 percent.

Initially, there was a positive start with a rally that propelled the index beyond the 61,000 mark for the first time. However, within an hour of trading, the emergence of selling pressure led to a reversal, erasing the earlier gains and taking the index in negative territory for the rest of the session.

The index showed significant volatility throughout the day, ranging by 1,227.66 points. It reached an intraday high of 61,555.84, marking an increase of 825.57 points, and a low of 60,328.18, reflecting a decline of 402.09 points.

During the day E&P, Auto, Fertilizer, Bank and Cement sectors contributed positively as MTL, ENGRO, MCB, DGKC, and POL collectively added 102 points to the index. Conversely, HBL, MEBL, and HUBC together caused a loss of 127 points.

BR Automobile Assembler Index increased by 288.56 points or 2.24 percent to close at 13,189.21 points with total turnover of 16.271 million shares.

BR Cement Index lost 18.71 points or 0.29 percent to close at 6,476.95 points with 79.080 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index declined by 121.59 points or 0.82 percent to close at 14,784.41 points with 86.993 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index decreased by 90.28 points or 0.65 percent to close at 13,850.83 points with 23.626 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index inched down by 14.88 points or 0.28 percent to close at 5,347.14 points with 50.040 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index fell by 34.65 points or 0.84 percent to close at 4,075.25 points with 75.078 million shares.

Mohammed Waqar Iqbal at JS Global Capital said that the market opened on a positive note but profit-taking by investors dragged it down.

Traded volume stood at 692 million shares where BOP (up 2.9 percent), CNERGY (zero percent), PRL (down 1.8 percent), WTL (down 1.9 percent) and KOSM (down 0.7 percent) were the volume leaders.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023

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