BRIndex100 extends losses

Pakistan Stock Exchange Thursday witnessed a bearish trend due to investor concerns on the prevailing political uncertainty and the rollover week pressure. BRIndex100 lost 34.5 points or 0.8 percent to close at 4,294.49 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,336.32 and intraday low of 4,276.24 points. Volumes stood at 86.120 million shares.
BRIndex30 decreased by 135.8 points or 0.63 percent to 21,270.17 points with a turnover of 55.868 million shares. The benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 325.67 points to close at 40,266.21 points. Trading activity remained low as daily volumes decreased to 101.839 million shares as compared to 156.986 million shares traded Wednesday.
The market capitalization decreased by Rs 84 billion to Rs 8.357 trillion. Out of total 344 active scrips, 216 closed in negative, 119 in positive while the value of 9 stocks remained unchanged. K-Electric was the volume leader with 9.081 million shares. However, it lost Re 0.21 to close at Rs 5.67 followed by TPL Trakker that gained Re 1.00 to close at Rs 8.07 with 7.645 million shares.
Faisal Spinning and Sazgar Eng were the top gainers with Rs 11.25 and Rs 9.11, respectively to close at Rs 236.99 and Rs 191.36. Nestle Pakistan and Sapphire Textile were the top losers with Rs 400.01 and Rs 93.49, respectively to close at Rs 10,999.99 and Rs 1,776.46. BR Commercial Banks Index lost 13 points or 0.17 percent to close at 7,702.74 points with total turnover of 6.487 million shares.
BR Cement Index closed at 5,091.65 points, down 11.03 points or 0.22 percent with total volumes of 3.783 million shares. BR Oil and Gas Index decreased by 42.62 points or 0.83 percent to close at 5,111.43 points with 5.567 million shares. BR Tech. & Comm. Index lost 10.43 points or 0.88 percent to close at 1,174.63 points with 12.866 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index declined by 167.87 points or 2.64 percent to close at 6,189.66 points with 13.856 million shares. Danish Ladhani at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 index succumbed to pressure throughout the day owing to uncertainty on the political front and roll-over week pressure. Investors opted for selling on news that Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has been granted indefinite medical leave which may hereafter end his chore as the financial Magnus of the country, creating doubts over continuity of current macroeconomic policies. Thus, KSE-100 index pulled off positive in the morning but ultimately bled 326 points to close down at 40,266 levels. PPL (down 0.8 percent) OGDC (down 0.3 percent) and POL (down 0.1 percent) in the E&P sector closed in the red zone amidst plummeting international crude oil prices as the US heads to a long thanksgiving weekend and markets await word from the Opec on a widely expected extension of crude oil output curbs. Mixed sentiment was observed in the Banking sector on anticipation of unchanged policy rate in the upcoming announcement of monetary policy. Key stock such as NBP (down 0.8 percent), HBL (down 0.3 percent) and UBL (down 0.8 percent) closed red while MCB (up 0.4 percent) and BAFL (up 0.4 percent) closed in the green zone.